Missed Opportunities
by tiramisuspice
Summary: She regrets it now. Now that it's too late.
1. Prologue

**Finally watched GMNY in full and Cheese Soufflé just won over my heart. Can you just imagine him asking his mom for advice on how to make a girl he likes notice him and his sisters teasing him all annoying with things like 'Charlie likes a giiirl!' and 'Charlie and Riley sitting in a tree!' and his mom probably told him to pay attention to her and notice the little things about her because she'll appreciate it, and Charlie _really_ took heed of the advice and paid attention to _everything_ lol. This guy is head over heels in his crush, and he's probably so unbelievably threatened by Lucas that he started antagonizing him. And it turns out his efforts were in vain nevertheless. It makes my heart hurt. Can we have happy Charlie please?**

 **It's funny because I'm not really a fan of most unrequited relationships in TV shows (since they're mostly done badly), but for some reason, I can't help but feel like this one maaaaybe _isn't_ quite as unrequited as we're being led to think. I think Riley could perhaps grow to actually like Charlie. (Don't quote me on that. Just speculation). I think they could be a dorky cute couple together. Anywaaaayyyy, that thought birthed this random story.**

 **It's fragments, word vomit, and unstructured and weird. I didn't feel like writing it out all the way at once because the shit is long (and I'm too lazy to write a super long one shot right now, but in the future, I'll condense it in one, probably), so this is what happened. Hopefully it won't take forever to write this whole thing up but I'm also lazy as hell during breaks so I make no promises. Bah whatevs.**

 **Rated K+ for Kites Flying Away**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

Sometimes when Riley is working on her school work, her eyes will be drawn to the photo on her desk.

She's four. Her father is holding her in his arms as they squint at the camera her mother had been holding, sand in their hair and clothes and all over their faces. It's growing late, the setting sun in the horizon above the water creating this almost ethereal glow over the photograph.

It had been the first time Riley had ever gone to the beach. The first time she had flown a kite in her life.

Riley doesn't remember much of that day, but the one thing she does recall was letting go of the kite because she had gotten distracted by a puppy that an old couple had been walking by the shore. By the time she finally realized her kite had disappeared, carried off somewhere by the wind, it was too late.

It wasn't the first time something like that had happened to Riley.

She could remember numerous dropped ice cream incidences, where she hadn't paid attention or had gotten intrigued by something else in the big beautiful world and dropped it before she even realized it was too late. Times when she was too scared to step away from what she was certain she knew she wanted as a flavour only to realize the other flavours were just as good, if not better.

Missed opportunities and lost chances.

It wasn't the last time she'd missed an opportunity either. In fact, she considered those the start of a defining characteristic in her life that would shape the way she lived and what choices she made for the next several years.

And unfortunately, a characteristic that would lead her to make a decision that she would come to regret years later…


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Happy Holidays guys! :D**

 **Meet cutes are my aesthetic tbh. Also, w** **hat colour are Cheese Soufflé's eyes? I can't get a clear visual in any of the episodes.  
**

 **Thank you for the lovely reviews! I'm happy you guys like Charlie too! I hope the story is pleasant for you all! I appreciate you! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Riley. It's like you didn't even try. I know you can do better than this…" Mr. Lowe said, giving her a stern, disappointed look. "Why is your essay so badly written? I could understand if this was first semester, maybe the first month of school, but we're already mid second semester. I expect better work from you."

Riley clutched the failed Lit paper in her hands and feigned an energetic, peppy smile, though she was nervous. It wasn't often that she got scolded by any teachers, much less turned in bad work. But honestly, she couldn't tell him why the report was such poor quality. The night before it had been due, she'd been on the phone with Maya which she knew wasn't an acceptable excuse, though she knew her teachers absolutely were aware of their life partner relationship. But unfortunately, they'd talked way late into the night and exhausted, she had fallen asleep on her laptop. When she'd finally opened her eyes, she'd only had two hours left to write it before she had to get going to school. The finished product was an essay that was just about the same quality as her artwork.

So… _not_ good.

"No reason, Mr. Lowe." Riley replied, smiling sweetly. "I guess I was just careless."

He gave her a skeptical look momentarily but then sighed when he realized Riley had no intention of telling him the truth.

"Alright Riley. I don't know what happened," he said, scribbling something on a memo pad. "But last semester you were a phenomenal student, so I know you're capable of incredible work. I'll give you until Friday to redo your essay. If your essay is much better quality, I'll replace your grade with a seventy-five. Fair enough?"

"Yes! That's fair!" Riley's eyes widened, relief passing through her entire body. "You are the coolest teacher ever!"

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly, shaking his head in mirth. "Yeah, yeah."

Riley bit her lower lip, trying to keep herself from grinning widely. She felt bad for Mr. Lowe. Not even counting all of her outbursts in class and crazy ideas during discussions, she knew she made him nervous. She knew 50% of him loved her because she was such an innovative, creative student, but she also knew the other 50% of him wanted to bash his head against the wall. He was just lucky Maya wasn't in the same class with her. On the last day of school last year, their sophomore year English teacher had actually _thanked_ the two of them for passing her course and getting the hell out of her class.

"New copy by Friday, okay?" He reminded her.

"Thank you so much, Mr. Lowe! See you tomorrow."

Riley rushed out before he could respond, holding all her books haphazardly in her arms. She was well aware the bell for class had rung several minutes ago and the late bell was on the verge of ringing. Which meant she was going to be late to class.

And Riley was _never_ late.

She raced down the hallways of the school, clacking in her heels and passing by several seniors skipping classes, well aware that she must have looked a little wild running loudly down the hall to get to class with her hair flying behind her and clutching her books to her chest like a lifeline.

"Crud!" Riley muttered under her breath, picking up some speed when she looked up at a hallway clock and noticed the minute hand was right on the twelve.

She rounded the corner towards the history hallway of the school, not paying attention to her surroundings. So when Riley saw someone turning the corner as well in the opposite direction, she tried to skid to a stop and unfortunately tripped over her own feet.

And promptly ran right into that someone.

She crashed right into them, shrieking in surprise as they collided, books and papers flying everywhere as she stumbled into them, her legs getting tangled with theirs. They toppled over in a mess of limbs, the person grunting in pain from the impact as they hit the ground.

For a few seconds, there was silence, only the sound of some papers sliding across the floor.

"Oww…" Riley moaned, rubbing her knee.

She had banged it pretty roughly on the ground. At least this part of the hallway was relatively empty so no one had witnessed the embarrassing fall.

Riley's eyes slowly opened, and she stared wide eyed up at the person she had run into. She was sprawled on top of the guy, nestled in between his bent legs, her chin resting on his chest. The guy groaned, pulling himself up on his elbows. Hazel eyes stared back at her, blinking slowly and slightly confused.

And Riley couldn't help the small gasp that left her lips.

" _Charlie_?"

Charlie's vision focused on her, his brows lifting in surprise when he realized who he was looking at.

"Riley."

For a second, she just blinked up at him, surprised and a little confused to see him. The late bell for the next class period rang in the distance, but neither paid attention, staring at each other in slight shock. She hadn't been in contact with Charlie since the New Year's Eve party when they'd been in their final year of junior high and she'd ended the start of their relationship. After they had graduated, Charlie hadn't attended JQA High, and she honestly hadn't seen him since then.

He looked older—which made sense considering they _were_ older—but he still had the same tousled hair she remembered that was so reminiscent of the pictures she had seen of her Uncle Shawn when he was in high school. And he still had the same cute smile, the slightly crooked tilt of one corner of his mouth. His voice was deeper. He was the same Charlie she remembered from her prepubescent mind. Only _not_. She didn't really know how to explain it. He was different. But there was something about him that was comforting, like seeing an old friend after years and realizing they were still the same person you knew.

"Charlie… I didn't realize you went to JQA. I haven't seen you in years."

"Yeah, I just transferred back today, actually." Charlie grimaced slightly. "Do you uh… Do you think we could get up? It's a little uncomfortable here."

"Right! Sorry!"

Riley scrambled backwards off of him and hurried to her feet, giving him an apologetic smile. Charlie did the same, groaning a bit as he rotated his shoulder from the way he had landed on it. She dusted off her tights, inspecting them carefully to make sure she hadn't torn something.

"Sorry." Riley apologized again when she noticed the huge dust stain Charlie was swatting off of his bottom.

Part of her thought it was amusing, but she didn't want to possibly offend Charlie by laughing, and honestly, with all these years that had passed, she wasn't even sure they were anything like friends, much less acquaintances at this point.

"It's okay." He smiled. "You didn't do it on purpose."

"So uh…" she asked tentatively as she stooped to pick up her dropped books. "Where have you been?"

"Actually, my mom got a temporary job in Maine," Charlie said as he also picked up his discarded binder and some of the papers that had scattered in the hallway, "so we moved there after I graduated middle school. But she got a transfer back here so here I am."

"Oh I see."

Their conversation tapered off, and they continued to pick up their papers in silence, Riley sneaking glances at Charlie every once in a while. It was a bit odd to see him look so much older. Grown. She couldn't get over it. Maybe it was because he'd been away so long so she hadn't seen his growth the way she'd seen her own friends' that seeing the changes he'd gone through since back then was pretty incredible.

Lost in her thoughts, she didn't realize they had both picked up the very last paper on the floor. They stood up slowly, holding the pink transfer form and staring at each other.

"I think this is yours." Riley chuckled a bit nervously, letting go of the paper and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

He nodded and placed it back into his binder, looking like he couldn't think of what to say.

"We should probably get to class. The late bell rang a while ago."

"Right. Well, welcome back. It's good to see you." Riley supplied, only to try to cut through the awkwardness.

And honestly, she didn't blame either of them for being awkward. They knew each other from the past, and if they were friends, she would have no qualms giving him a hug, but that just felt inappropriate in the moment. And though Riley was all for giving free hugs to people to spread happiness to anyone who wanted it, she knew hugging him wouldn't necessarily be a good idea.

"Good to see you too." Charlie said with a nod, looking past her like he wanted out of the awkward conversation.

Riley felt the same way to be honest. Plus, she just didn't know what to say, which came as a big shock to her considering she _always_ had something to say or something to add to a conversation.

"Well… bye!" Riley said a bit abruptly.

She waved at him with a wide, tight smile and then scurried past him to head onward to her class, chastising her choice of parting words. Definitely sounded bad to her ears.

Riley groaned under her breath and pushed it to the back of her mind, deciding not to dwell on the end of the awkward exchange. It didn't matter in the long run.

She doubted she was going to see Charlie very often.


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: Happy New Year loves :3 Thank you for clarifying for me! I'm going to continue to describe Charlie's eyes as hazel (more greenish hazel), I don't think they're as light as Lucas'? But if I'm wrong, feel free to correct me at any time. (Also, the "chapters" are cut up weird, but that's because they're not chapters so much as sections?) I'm really tired...** **  
**

 **Riarlie makes my heart hurt :/ Why do I always like ships that have so much angst? wtf.  
**

 **Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate the reviews! You guys are sweet! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

Fate—and life for that matter—always had a way of playing games with people.

 _"What's the worst that can happen?"_

And then the very worst that could happen would proceed to happen.

 _"I doubt it can get any worse than this."_

And worse things undoubtedly happened.

And now Riley could add to her list of things to never say again lest the universe decided to mess with her.

 _"I'll doubt I'll ever see such and such ever again."_

So imagine Riley's surprise when she walked into biology, her last course of the day, and saw Charlie sitting at a table near the back, looking at something on his phone. She briefly wondered if she should call out his name and say hi, but she stopped her hand midway on its way up. What was she going to do? Yell and then say nothing else? She didn't even have a follow up for the greeting. Nor would she know what to say. After their earlier interaction that day, she knew it would be awkward.

Her teacher began the lecture, and Riley sighed, sliding into her seat near the front, deciding to not say anything and maybe chat a bit with him quickly at the end of class.

Riley glanced over her shoulder, glimpsing at Charlie briefly. Riley was usually friendly by nature; she loved talking to people, but was it so wrong that she kind of didn't want to talk to Charlie? It wasn't like she hated him or anything. Charlie was a nice guy. But she wanted to avoid him. Their "relationship", whatever it had been in junior high kept coming back to the forefront of her mind. His mega super crush and her avoidance tactics. Not to mention her "breaking up" with him after essentially using him. He had to be holding onto some kind of resentment.

It would be awkward if she tried to talk to him right now. And while Riley was all for having random conversations with people, she didn't want to make Charlie feel forced to talk to her. No doubt he was feeling a similar awkward way.

Riley pushed it aside, shaking off her thoughts and forcing herself to focus in class, opening her class notebook to take notes on the lecture.


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: When I age characters, I like to "angst" them up a bit. Apologies in advance if you think they are OOC. I'm putting up many chapters at once, so there'll be some sporadic updates here and there in the next few hours? Just keep looking out for them.  
**

 **Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate the reviews! You guys are sweet! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Alright guys," Mrs. Berkeley stated, looking at the clock on the wall. "I'll let you out early because I know it's the end of the day and half of you aren't paying attention anyway. Don't forget! Your phylum project presentations are due next Friday."

Students in the class began to pack up to leave, and Riley gathered her school books, putting her papers back into her binder and replacing her pencils into her pencil pouch. As she was standing to leave the classroom, her teacher came up to her.

"Riley, you're the only student who was working on your project alone, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I hope you don't mind, and I'm sorry to do this when we're almost done with the research portion, but we have a transfer student in our class named Charlie." Mrs. Berkeley said. Riley glanced at him, ambling over in their direction and gave him a small smile. "His old high school miraculously was on the same topic before he left. I'd like him to participate in this project since he's missed many of our tests and doesn't have as many grading opportunities. I was wondering if you could include him in your project with you? Have you already finished any of the presentation components?"

"Of course I can include him, Mrs. Berkeley. And don't worry. I was still researching information."

"Excellent. Thank you so much, Riley." She turned to Charlie. "Charlie, this is Riley Matthews. She'll be your project partner."

"We've actually met before." Charlie replied. "We used to go to school together."

"Oh well that's even better! You can work with a familiar face. Let me know if you two have any questions or concerns about the project."

"Thank you."

Their teacher went back to her desk, and Charlie and Riley left the classroom.

"Charlie," Riley said congenially. "So you're my partner now."

She tried not to let the trepidation she was feeling show up on her face, though she felt a little nervous. How in the world was it that she had ended up as his partner? The universe was definitely messing with her. She had to spend time with him for this project, but above that, she would see him in bio for the rest of the semester.

"Uh yeah." Charlie smiled. "I guess so."

"Okay." Riley floundered for words to say in her mind, but she was having trouble coming up with any conversation topics that wouldn't result in her rambling. "Good."

They faced each other semi-awkwardly, Riley chewing on the inside of her cheek while Charlie rubbed the back of his neck. She supposed their inability to converse made sense. After all, they'd never really had a full or substantial conversation before. That date they had gone on back in the eighth grade was spent in mostly silence as Riley had stewed over Lucas and Maya's date in Topanga's. After that, she hadn't really had any chances to get to know Charlie. Thus, she wasn't really sure how to speak to him.

"So uh, is your number the same?" Riley asked. "It'll make it easier to coordinate stuff. And communicate. And stuff."

"It's the same. Is yours?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Yuppity yupp. The same."

There were silent once again, and it took every ounce of Riley's being not to grimace or pull a disgruntled face. So she smiled tightly, hoping that maybe if she kept her expressive and happy face, she could help relax the tension in the awkward scenario. Thankfully, Charlie didn't look too bothered though, if not a little restless. She was hoping that their last interaction on New Year's Eve wasn't stuck in his mind like it was on hers.

"So I'm heading to the library right now to do some more research for the project. I can get you caught up on the project today, if you want."

"Okay that sounds like a plan. So onwards to the library?"

"Yes. To the library."

"Lead the way."


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Apparently my cat really likes Charlie too lol. She climbed on my keyboard and kept touching the screen when Charlie was on screen when I was rewatching Semi-Formal. I don't think that was a coincidence... There'll be more updates once I write out the chapters.  
**

 **Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate the reviews! You guys are sweet! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Take a look at this. I found a paragraph about Molluscs in this encyclopedia." Riley muttered, perusing the information on the page. "Right here."

"Oh yeah?"

Charlie leaned over to read it, and Riley stiffened, a little surprised that he had moved closer. She stared at him wide eyed, not having expected him to get so close in the first place.

"Uh… I already read it though. You can read it!" she shouted, nearly flinging the book over to him as fast as she could. "Here!"

The librarian shushed them loudly from her desk, glaring at them over her glasses, and Riley ducked her head apologetically. Charlie's brows rose in surprise, and he stared at her a little stunned at her sudden outburst, but she avoided his gaze and pretended to be engrossed in their researching.

Riley grabbed a different book on the table and began to flip through it, trying to ignore how her cheeks were a bit flushed. She felt awkward. Even more awkward than she had been beforehand. She and Charlie had been in the library researching their topic for the project presentation and the entire time, Riley couldn't help but start wondering if he still liked her.

For one, he sat in the chair right next to her when there was an empty chair that he could have sat at across from her. And every time she brought to his attention something else she had found while doing research, he would lean close to look at the book. She couldn't help but wonder if he was still harboring feelings for her. It made her even more nervous around him because she wasn't sure how to let him down easy.

"Are you okay?" Charlie asked slowly, a brow slightly raised in concern. "You've been acting weird since we got here."

"I'm fine." Riley said quickly, keeping her gaze on her book as she rapidly flipped through the pages without looking at any of the content. "Just peachy."

"It's just… you kind of seem anxious."

"Do I? I don't think so."

Riley chewed on her lower lip, hoping he hadn't picked up on her squeaking voice, an unfortunate side effect she'd picked up recently whenever she was apprehensive.

"I'm kind of getting this vibe that it's because of me. Did I do something to offend you? I'm sorry if I did."

She glanced at him, ready to deny the accusation, but Charlie was staring at his notebook, looking a little resigned. Riley didn't say anything, her words dying in her throat. Looking at him, she felt bad.

What the heck was she doing?

She was being ridiculous. _She'd_ told him to look at the paragraph she'd found. And of course it made sense for him to sit next to her so they could share and compare information and take notes more easily. He'd done nothing wrong, yet here she was assuming his behaviour was based on a crush that he'd had at least three years ago. She was the only one who was holding onto the mess of the past when clearly he didn't seem to be stuck on those memories. She hadn't even given him the benefit of the doubt.

"Charlie… You didn't do anything. I was just…" Riley sighed. "Honestly, I kind of thought you still were crushing on me. Stupid, right?"

"I get it. I was really into you back in eighth grade to the point that I was bugging you. I get why you're anxious. It's not stupid." He lifted his head and met her gaze, smiling slightly. "I don't think I ever apologized for my behaviour."

Riley frowned. "Well it's not like you did anything horrible. It's okay."

"No, it's not okay. I didn't realize how uncomfortable I was making you by being so creepy about it until I saw someone else do the same thing to someone I know in Maine. I guess I can understand why Lucas blew up on me. I reacted the same way too when I saw that situation. I also understand why it bothered you."

"Charlie, you weren't creepy." She was really thrown off guard by his earnest words. "You were just a guy with a huge crush. I've done the same kind of stuff in the past when I had a crush on Lucas. We were both young and acted in kind of rash ways."

"Still. I made you uncomfortable, and I understand that now. I guess I was just an overzealous little idiotic fourteen year old."

"You weren't idiotic." Riley asserted. "I mean yeah, you were pretty intense sometimes, but I don't know. It was kind of sweet. It was nice to know that there was somebody who paid attention to the things I liked. I guess at the time, I didn't realize that there aren't that many people in this world who will pay that much attention to you."

Riley had been on dates with other guys who were too engrossed in their own life. Thinking about some of the bad first dates she'd had in the past year or so, it was easy to see that Charlie back in eighth grade had been a surprising breath of fresh air compared to how guys sometimes acted.

"I guess I should actually thank you."

"Thank me?" he asked in confusion.

Riley nodded. "For paying attention to me. For taking a chance and putting yourself out there even though there was no guarantee you would be successful. You honestly didn't have to. So thank you for that."

"Well then. You're welcome." Charlie smiled, and Riley couldn't help the grin that grew on her face as well. She felt strangely better now. "So is everything all good now?"

"Definitely."

"So now can we continue the project? You won't keep throwing books at me, right?" Charlie said playfully, a brow raised in amusement.

"Oh yeah." Riley giggled. "I'll stop being weird."

"Good." Charlie chuckled. "Because I thought you were going to sic your boyfriend on me or something."

"My boyfriend?"

"Lucas."

"We're not like that." Riley corrected. "Just friends."

"Finally picked a side of the notebook?"

"Huh." Riley said pensively. She didn't realize that she _had_ picked a side. It had just kind of happened naturally that way after freshman year. Unlike eighth grade when she wasn't certain how she felt, now she could say with certainty that she no longer felt romantic attachment to Lucas. Sure, a part of her would always fondly remember the wonderful butterflies she'd felt when she'd had her crush, but it was a distant memory now, and she knew she wouldn't go back to wanting to date him. "I guess I did."

Charlie nodded in understanding, and they fell silent, continuing their research, the awkward tensions in the air between them finally settled.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: I don't think I said it, but the characters are around 17 in this story.**

 **Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate the reviews! You guys are sweet! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Riley, you up for chilling tonight?" Maya asked, readjusting her cap on her head as she stared in Riley's locker mirror. "I think practice might end early since the weather is going to be bad."

"Not sure. Let me check." Riley said, scrolling through the planner on her phone to figure out what needed to be done. "I'm going to Charlie's place to work on a project but I don't know about afterward."

Maya closed Riley's locker, turning to face her in confusion.

"Charlie? As in Gardner?"

"Yeah, he's back," Riley said with a smile. "Transferred back yesterday. He's in my biology class."

"So the ol' Cheese Soufflé is back, huh?"

"Apparently so. It's funny. He's almost exactly the same way I remember him."

Maya rose a brow as she stooped to pick up her softball bat bag, grunting slightly from the effort.

"Including the whole huge infatuation thing?"

"Minus that. I don't think he has a crush on me anymore. I mean we had this whole long conversation about what happened back then and everything was all good. We cleared the air."

"That's good to know." Maya smiled, slinging the strap on her shoulder. "So can you come hang out?"

"Probably not, Maya. I have too much homework to finish up, and this project work will take a while."

"It's fine. I'll just chill with Huckleberry or something."

"I think he said he was going to hang out at Zay's with Farkle after his baseball practice."

"I'll head there after practice then," Maya said, checking her phone for the time. "I'll see if I can catch a ride with him or something."

Riley stared at her, her head tilted curiously.

"You know… I don't think we ever said anything directly or out loud, but Maya, you know I'm just friends with Lucas, right?"

Maya glanced up and gave her a weird look. "What brought this on?"

"It came up in conversation with Charlie yesterday. And I just realized that _we_ never really have directly addressed it. The notebook thing."

"I mean, it's not like there's anything to address." Maya snorted. "We're all friends."

"It's just that I feel like you're holding back because you think I still like him deep down. And I don't."

Maya frowned. "Okay… but what does that have to do with what we were talking about?"

"It doesn't." Riley shrugged, noting how uncomfortable Maya seemed to be with the conversation. "All I'm saying is that it's been two years. When will you finally start dating Lucas for real?"

"We already talked about this," Maya said slowly, her eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I'm not interested in dating him anymore."

"Right," Riley said sarcastically, giving Maya a dry look. "You guys only make out every once in a while and are each other's default dates to everything."

Maya rolled her eyes, sighing under her breath and crossing her arms in front of her chest, clearly not wanting to have the conversation. But Riley wouldn't let it go.

"Maya, when you tried dating, you held back because you thought I was uncomfortable. And I was. Back then, I was. But I'm okay now. Honest to goodness. It's okay for you to date him if you want. You don't have to be scared."

"I'm not scared," Maya said sharply. "I told you. We're not romantic like that anymore, Riley. We tried, and it didn't work."

Riley shook her head. "Your timing just wasn't right. If you tried now maybe—"

"It's not a timing thing. Lucas and I just aren't compatible as a couple. Can we please not talk about this anymore?" Maya grabbed her messenger bag from the floor. "Bye Riles. I have to go to practice."

Riley sighed as Maya hurried off to head to her bus for practice. She could tell Maya was pretending to not care about it for some reason, but Riley couldn't help but feel that Maya might have given up hope because of the difficulties with their triangle years ago. She wondered if Maya had ever actually moved on from it. That could explain why she was so against talking about her relationship with Lucas.

Her attention was diverted off of Maya when she received a text from Charlie that he was done speaking with one of his teachers. With another dejected sigh over Maya, Riley picked up her own bookbag from the ground, pulling it on before she headed down the hall and around another corner to where Charlie said he would meet her.

He was pulling books from his locker as she approached him.

"I hope you don't mind," he said. "I drove today so we wouldn't have to take the subway."

"That's fine by me." Riley said with a smile. "Ready to go tackle that project?"

He shut his locker. "Absolutely."

"Cool. Lead the way."


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: This is how I envision Charlie's family. (More will be explained later).**

 **Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate the reviews! You guys are sweet! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Are you alright, Charlie?" Riley asked as they headed down the hallway of his apartment complex, heading to his door. "Why do you look so nervous?"

He'd been looking increasingly more wary the closer they had gotten to his place. And now that they were at his door he looked very apprehensive. He stopped and sighed after putting his key in the lock.

"Nothing…" he said, though his expression said anything but. "I just have three younger sisters."

"I remember. You've told me before."

"Yeah… but they're a little… _out there_." Charlie grimaced slightly. "My point is, they say and do embarrassing stuff…"

Riley giggled. "Understood. Don't believe what they say no matter what, right?"

He gave her a grateful look before he turned his key in the lock and pushed open the door.

"I'm home," he called out, looking around the living room.

"Chaaaarlie!"

Two identical blonde twins hopped off of the couch, racing over to him and nearly making him stumble backwards when they catapulted themselves on him and wrapped themselves around his legs.

"Hey guys." Charlie smiled, ruffling both of their hair.

"Can you play cowboys and robbers with us?"

"No! Can you play princes and princesses with us?"

"No, I wanna play cowboys!"

"Princess!"

"Cowboys!"

"Pipe down, you two. Mom is sleeping." A young auburn haired girl snapped in annoyance. She was sitting on one of the dining table chairs reading a book and looking bored. "Who's your girlfriend?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say, Upchuck…" the girl drawled.

Riley giggled, trying to hide her amusement behind her hand as Charlie rolled his eyes, the tip of his ears turning a bit red.

"Riley, this is Victoria and Veronica. Vicky and Nicky. And that's Alicia." Charlie said to Riley, pointing out his siblings. "Guys, this is Riley. We have to work on a project so please don't disturb us."

"Ooooh! Is she a princess?" Vicky asked, distracted from the argument.

"She looks like a princess, Charlie!" Nicky said excitedly.

"I am a princess, actually. Princess Riley." Riley said daintily, taking hold of the skirt of her dress and gracefully curtsying to the twins. "Pleased to make your acquaintances."

"Whoa…" Both twins stared at her with dropped jaws, looking a little starry eyed.

"Alicia, where's Mom?" Charlie asked.

"Didn't you hear me the first time? I said she was sleeping. Now that you're here can you babysit the brats?" Alicia said, not looking away from her book. "And you don't have to worry about talking to _me_ like a child, Riley. I'm very mature for my age, and I resent that kind of treatment."

"You're also being rude," Charlie scolded, leaning over and pulling the book from her hands. "At least look at someone when you're greeting them."

"Fine." Alicia grumbled, eyeing Riley in annoyance. "Hi. Happy now?"

She stood up and snatched her book from Charlie before storming out of the living room towards the hallway.

"Sorry," Charlie said, rolling his eyes in exasperation. "She's at _that_ phase just because she's in fifth grade."

"No worries. Auggie's girlfriend Ava has been going through that phase since she was six," Riley said congenially. "I'm used to it."

A woman with tangled auburn hair came out of the hallway then, yawning into her hand. When she saw Charlie and Riley, she smiled.

"I didn't know you were home, sweetie." She sniffled, clearing her throat when her voice came out a little scratchy. "Where's Alicia?"

"Went back to her room."

"That girl is getting on my last nerves with her attitude." Charlie's mother sighed, then smiled tiredly at Riley as she easily separated the twins who had started trying to pinch each other. "I'm sorry I'm lacking energy, hun. I work overnight shifts, and they just take their toll. But I'm Charlie's mother, Ruth. Nice to meet you."

"It's fine, I don't mind at all!" Riley quickly said. "And I'm Riley. It's nice to meet you too."

Ruth stared at her for a moment, her brows rising a bit on her forehead. She glanced at Charlie, an amused smile on her face. Charlie scratched the back of his head and looked away, the apprehensive look on his face coming back.

"Riley? As in Riley Matthews?"

"Yes, that's right." Riley smiled.

"Well, it's nice to finally meet you. You're definitely as cute as I imagined."

"Well, we're going to go work on our project, Mom." Charlie said quickly, cutting her off before she could continue talking.

"Door stays open, Charlie," Ruth said with a wink.

"Mom. It's not like that."

If he hadn't been blushing before, he was definitely blushing now, his cheeks a bit red in embarrassment.

"If you say so. Don't worry about the twins. I'll watch them so you won't be disturbed. C'mon you two. Let's go figure out what to make for dinner."

"Why can't we play with the princess?" Vicky groused.

"Mommy! We wanna play with the princess!" Nicky whined.

"My room is this way." Charlie said, gesturing down the hall and sneaking away before either of the girls noticed they were leaving.

Riley followed Charlie down a hallway with dolls scattered all over the floor and past a couple other doors before they reached his room at the end. He pushed his door open, and they walked in.

"Feel free to sit anywhere you like. I cleaned my room this morning."

Charlie still looked so embarrassed though. Riley felt like she had to do something to help him before he started banging his head against the wall. She knew a thing or two about embarrassing families. Her father was a prime example. And on occasion Uncle Eric. Also Uncle Josh when he would bring up embarrassing stories of her childhood. And her mom whenever she wanted to talk about how cute Riley's dates were. Sometimes Uncle Shawn when he took Riley and Maya shopping and they would get hit on by guys.

"Your sisters are so cute." Riley said, sitting down on his rug and trying to distract him from the despair that seemed to almost have a hold on him. "How old are the twins?"

"Six." Charlie sighed. "And very hyper."

"No wonder you were so good with Auggie on New Years. You're used to dealing with younger siblings."

"Cute? Wait until Vicky has a tantrum and throws forks at you. Won't be so cute then. And Nicky screams. You should have seen them when they were three. The Terror Twins is what we called them."

Riley smiled, opening her book bag and rummaging around for her planner so she could keep track of what they worked on.

"They sound wonderful. It must be a lot of fun with sisters. I love Auggie—don't get me wrong—but I've always wanted a little sister. Multiple little sisters, really." Riley said, leaning back against the side of his bed. "It would be fun to play dress up and other make-believe things with them."

"I don't think you're missing much, honestly." Charlie joked, picking up his laptop from the desk and sitting down on the rug nearby her. "Doesn't matter what you play, you always end up as the horse."

Riley laughed, tugging her own laptop from her school bag.

"Your family sounds great."

"They have their moments, I guess." Charlie smiled, looking a lot less embarrassed and way more relieved now. "We need six credible and reliable sources from the internet, right?"

"Yes, and two have to be peer reviewed articles from a scientific journal."

"You find three, I find three?"

Riley pulled out a sheet of paper from her binder. "And let's keep a list of the sites we already visited so we don't look at the same ones."

"Good idea. And we can put checkmarks for the ones we've decided to use."

"Alright then. Let's get to work."


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: This is also how I envision older Charlie in my mind.**

 **Thank you for the kind words! I appreciate the reviews! You guys are sweet! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

Riley sighed, putting another website on their long list. Only three had checkmarks beside them and they'd been doing research for quite a while. Riley wasn't sure of the exact time they had been working on the project, but she did know that her eyes were starting to kind of hurt from staring at the screen and reading so many articles for so long.

Charlie was also starting to look a little tired and set aside his laptop, rubbing his eyes with a sigh.

"I think we should take a break or something." Riley said, stretching her arms as she yawned. "We've been working for a long time."

"Yeah, I think so too." Charlie stood up with a soft grunt. "I'm getting something to drink. Do you want anything? Snacks or drinks or whatever?"

"Could I have water please?"

"Sure, no problem."

After Charlie left, Riley leaned back on her arms, finally looking around his room curiously. She had refrained from blatantly observing his room when she'd first come in and while they'd been working, but now she was really intrigued.

It was a pretty quaint room really with not much clutter. Charlie kept it tidy and organized and it smelled like fresh linens instead of the musky boy smell that seemed to be prevalent. He had a lot of books on his bookshelf of all types and sizes as well as a few records and quite a bunch of CDs and DVDs. It seemed like his family probably stored all their entertainment in his room. Other than that, his walls were bare, and he didn't seem to have much extra stuff or clutter.

Though Riley did spot a guitar leaning sideways against the wall nearly hidden since it was between the bookshelf and the desk.

Charlie came back shortly afterward with two bottles of water.

"We only have bottled water. Do you mind?"

"Not at all." Riley smiled gratefully as he handed it to her. "Charlie. I couldn't help but notice the guitar. You play guitar?"

He looked at it, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Uh yeah. I took it up when I started high school."

"Could you play something for me?" Riley asked, uncapping the water and taking a few sips. "Please?"

Charlie blinked in surprise. "What? Now?"

"Yeah. I always love listening to people play."

"Ummm… I guess I can show you a little bit of something." Charlie said with a shrug, walking over to his guitar and taking it from its spot. He turned around his desk chair before he sat down in it. "This is something I started writing two years ago, but never really finished."

He strummed a few chords, turning the pegs of the guitar slightly to tune it before glancing at her. Riley waited patiently, an encouraging smile on her face as he hesitated.

"I'm not all that good," Charlie said sheepishly. "Still kind of new at this."

"I can't even play guitar, so anything you play is going to be amazing to me."

His shoulders relaxed and he nodded, smiling slightly.

Charlie started playing some chords, beginning the intro of his song. Riley listened attentively as he started singing the first verse. His voice was soft and gentle, though she could tell he wasn't singing at full volume. But he had a great voice, low in timbre and smooth like butter. The kind of rich voice that eased fears and eased nerves.

The song was like a warm lullaby, comforting and something that she could listen to over and over on repeat and never get enough of. It was a love song about some bright eyed girl with a big heart in the lyrics who exuded warmth and couldn't see herself the way the speaker saw her.

And then Charlie stopped midway through the second verse, tapering off with a small, tight smile. Riley clapped excitedly, a wide grin on her face.

"Sorry. That's all I have."

"I love it! It was beautiful. What was your inspiration?"

"Just a song about someone I know." Charlie said, clearing his throat as he moved to put his guitar up, a faint blush on his cheeks.

"Well, you're an amazing player," Riley gushed. "And I'm not just saying that. It was incredible."

"You really think so?" Charlie asked with a smile, sitting back down on his spot on the rug. "Thank you. I don't really play for anyone but my family."

"Why not?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I want to be a better songwriter, but I don't really have that much confidence in it. I feel like I'm not good enough."

"But you're super talented! You should show more people." Riley sighed. "I wish I had some kind of talent…"

"What are you talking about?" Charlie's brows furrowed in confusion.

"It's been years. Everyone I know has something they're really talented at." Riley said, her smile dropping a bit as she stared at the carpet. "Zay is fantastic at ballet. Farkle has genius on lock. Lucas is great at sports. And Maya has her art. I still haven't found mine yet. It's kind of upsetting. I was hoping to have figured it out by now, especially since we have to apply to schools in the fall."

"You have a talent."

Riley looked up at him, a skeptical look on her face.

"Not all talents manifest themselves in outward or tangible ways, you know?" Charlie said. "From what I've noticed about you, your talent has always been your undying optimism and your belief in the good in people. You're open and giving and you have a big heart. A lot of us are jaded, but you help us to believe in things we might have never thought we could achieve. That's the best part of you, you know? Your heart."

Riley stared at him, her brows lifting in total surprise from the unabashed compliments he'd given her. Charlie had picked up on all of that in her personality even though they had barely been friends?

"Thank you. That's really sweet."

"I'm just stating facts, Riley," Charlie said with a smile. "You should have more confidence in yourself, you know? You have a lot going for you. You just have to look at it in a different way."

Riley nodded slightly, still a bit shocked by his words. Charlie always helped her feel like she was special, even back in junior high. It'd been a long time since anyone said anything of the sort to her.

"Alright. I think we've had enough of a break. Let's try to get this part of the research done."

Riley nodded silently, pulling her laptop back onto her lap. Charlie honestly had paid a lot of attention to her. He'd cared enough to notice her and learn about who she was. And it was that thought that brought a smile to her lips that she couldn't wipe away even if she tried. It was heartwarming.

How had she not noticed how supportive he was when she was younger?


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Guys... So I just saw that apparently Tanner has Legacy on his filmography which means Charlie's coming back for at least one more episode this season! Hooray! Maybe this is my sickness coming into play here, buuuuut does no one else think that's weird that Charlie is coming back? I mean, if Riley "dumped" Charlie in New Years, why is he making a reappearance when his side character role has supposedly been completed? Unless... his side character role hasn't been completed yet. Which means there's more to the story of Riley and Charlie~ _(Clearly,_ since the writers only use him as a plot device).  
**

 **Thank you for the lovely reviews! You all are too sweet to me and I honestly appreciate all the love you have given me! I'm glad you are enjoying the story! Thank you for reading it, loves! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"I'm heading to the restroom really quickly," Charlie said as he stood up and headed towards his doors. "I'll be right back."

"Okay."

Riley continued to pour over the outline of all their notes, categorized by importance and which part of the presentation they best fit. She and Charlie had made a lot of progress the day before, finishing up their research and that day they were organizing their information so they could finish out the outline of their presentation topics due the next day in class.

They'd been making surprisingly quick work of the project, and Riley could honestly say she was glad she finally had someone to work on the project with. Riley had originally asserted to Mrs. Berkeley that she would be fine working alone since there was an odd number of students in the class, but it was a lot of work. With Charlie as her partner, they'd gotten a lot done and Riley didn't feel as stressed anymore having to present the information on her own. She didn't do all that great in planned public speaking when she had to rehearse her topic and lines, but at least with Charlie, that took so much of the pressure off.

They worked well together since they had the same work ethic, and Charlie was a fairly meticulous worker. Though they still had awkward pauses in conversation at times, he was easy to talk to and because she didn't really know him, there was always something interesting she found out about him anytime they approached a conversation topic.

In addition to playing guitar, Charlie had formed a band with some new friends he'd made in Maine, and they lasted for a year and won first prize in a talent competition. And sophomore year, he'd joined his high school's ice hockey team after playing a random pickup game and realized he really loved the sport since it was a great way to work out his aggression. He was considering trying out for a club team in New York since JQA High didn't have one. He talked about how much his sisters were exasperating to say the least, but Riley could clearly tell how much he loved them in the way that his hazel eyes would soften, and he would get this fond smile on his face.

In turn, she told him about her Yale dreams for journalism as well as the observation journal she'd started writing around sophomore year to document her life and the things she observed about humanity. She told him about how she'd been scouted for modeling once, but ultimately decided not to try to join the agency because she was too clumsy. She told him about cheerleading being a dream lost as the years went on and how although she was still doing basketball cheerleading, she felt like she had been pursuing it so readily despite knowing she didn't have much talent for it because she desperately wanted to feel like she had something— _anything_ —that she could call a skill like her friends. She had been planning to continue it, but thanks to Charlie's encouragement about her already being talented, she was starting to feel like maybe she didn't need to continue cheerleading into senior year to validate the worth of her skills.

They tended to stay away from topics having to do with things from the past, but that made sense to Riley, seeing as how those very conversation topics would only bring up the awkward memories of their failed "romantic relationship", if one could even call it that.

Riley looked over the content in their rough draft for their outline for what each slide of their PowerPoint should have in order to best convey their information to their class. As she perused one of the chunk of notes of the outline for better placement and an easier transition, Alicia pushed open the door and walked into Charlie's room.

Riley smiled cheerfully. "Hello."

Alicia barely spared her a glance as she headed over to the bookshelf to grab a book. She reached up towards the top of the bookshelf, grunting a bit as she strained to reach it, her hand just barely touching it.

"Do you need some help getting that book?" Riley asked, poised to stand and help the younger girl.

"No, I don't want your help." Alicia snapped.

"Oh." Riley was a little taken aback by her sharp response. "A-are you sure? I'd be happy to—"

"If I wanted your help, don't you think I would have asked?"

Riley blinked in shock, staring up at Alicia in surprise, unsure how to respond to her words. With another slight grunt, Alicia rose to her tiptoes and snatched a Harry Potter book from the shelf, sighing in relief as she settled back on the heels of her feet. She turned back to face Riley, looking at her like she was a roach or something disgusting she couldn't stand.

"Where's my brother?"

"He's using the restroom." Riley answered a bit quietly, feeling a bit uncomfortable from Alicia's piercing cherry brown gaze.

Alicia's eyes narrowed.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask. Are you the chick who Charlie liked in the past that he wouldn't shut up about? Her name was Riley too."

Riley nodded slowly, just a tiny bit frightened of Charlie's sister. She reminded her of young Maya in a way, but way more angry. And kind of a lot more scary. She really seemed to dislike Riley for some reason.

"I thought as much," Alicia said with a sneer. "So you think you can just use him because he's a nice guy."

"What?" Riley shook her head. "No. Of course not. We're working on a project as assigned partners."

"I'm not talking about the project, yo-yo brain." Alicia scoffed. "I'm talking about the fact that you broke my brother's heart. When I was seven, he used to go on and on to my mom about how pretty you were and how nice you were and how amazing you were and how he was so happy he got to go on a so called date with you, but I don't think so. I'm smart enough to know that _nice_ girls don't use other boys which you clearly did."

Riley looked down at the carpet, feeling guilty.

"What was so wrong with my brother, huh? Just because he's not cool or wasn't sporty, and he's such a dumdum nerd sometimes and he's so lame it makes me want to barf doesn't mean you should use him. Because at least he's nice."

Riley looked back up at Alicia. The way she was talking reminded Riley of how much Auggie would defend her if the need arose. Younger siblings tended to be protective of their older siblings because they saw them as heroes. No matter how much it seemed Alicia made fun of Charlie, Riley could tell she really loved her brother. It was sweet.

"There was nothing wrong with Charlie. He was perfect." Riley said simply.

Alicia's scowl loosened slowly, and she stared at Riley in confusion, clearly having anticipated a different answer.

"You don't like me, do you?" Riley sighed, picking at her fingernail. "And I understand why. I did use your brother at some point. And I'm not going to try to justify my behaviour or make any excuses. Back then, I was naïve and couldn't figure myself out and made some bad decisions. I'm sorry he got hurt because of me. And I'm sorry, Alicia, if I hurt you too by hurting Charlie. I hope someday despite that, we can be friends. Harry Potter is one of my favourite series. I'd love to talk about it with you."

Riley glanced up at the auburn haired girl, a warm smile on her lips. Alicia was looking down at Riley with a slight frown on her face as if she honestly didn't understand what was going on.

Before she could answer, Charlie walked back in his room.

"Alicia, what are you doing in here?"

"I was just getting another book, Upchuck. Get off my case," she said, averting her gaze from Riley's and staring at the book in her hand.

"You weren't bugging Riley, were you?"

Alicia rolled her eyes with a scoff, storming out of the room without saying another word. Charlie watched her go before he sighed, shutting his door and taking his place on the rug.

"She didn't bother you, did she?" Charlie said apologetically. "She can be a little aggressive sometimes, but she's a good kid ten percent of the time."

"No. She was totally fine." Riley said, giggling softly. "Just came to get a book."

"Good."

They resumed their work on their outline on the google doc for a bit, rearranging the topic points they were working on to make a cohesive presentation. But Riley's mind wasn't really on the project. It was on what Alicia had said about Charlie constantly talking about her to his mom. Judging by her use of past tense, that meant at some point Charlie stopped mentioning her. Riley didn't doubt after the New Year's fiasco at her party years ago, he'd decided it was no longer going to happen and decided to give up. She wondered how much of her brother's emotions Alicia had picked up. Had he been downtrodden for a while?

When Riley had watched Lucas and Maya on their dates at Topanga's all those years ago, when she watched them converse by the ledge, when she watched them stare at each other, anything at all, she used to feel particularly conflicted, hurt, upset. Jealous. The feeling was terrible all in all. And even if she hadn't directly said to Charlie that she still liked Lucas when she had ended whatever weird thing she had with Charlie, when Farkle had said it out loud, well… Charlie must have put two and two together. He must have understood the reason why Riley had rejected him.

It had to have hurt.

And Riley felt really bad.

"Did I ever apologize to you, Charlie?" she asked quietly, unsure if he had picked up on her words since she'd said them a tad quietly.

He glanced up briefly. "For what?"

"For trying to use you to forget about Lucas and Maya when we were younger…" Riley wrung the hem of her shirt when Charlie stopped typing and stared at her, his expression carefully guarded. "You didn't deserve that. I feel like I took advantage of you. I'm sorry."

Charlie sighed, scratching the back of his head slightly uncomfortably.

"You were confused, and you didn't know how to handle what you were feeling. I'm not going to fault you for that. Besides, we were young. It's not that big a deal. I'm over it."

"Thank you for being understanding. You're really easy going, you know?"

"Yet another thing you seem to have missed about me because you kept making us have silent movie dates," he said playfully.

"I mean it. Thank you for respecting me when I turned you down, even though you should have been a bit upset. It's admirable."

"You're welcome," Charlie said, all joking gone and a sincere smile on his face that made his green eyes dance warmly.

Riley stared at Charlie, grateful for his kindness. He really could have been sour about it and treated her like public enemy number one, but he'd kept his distance and stopped pursuing her. The whole time she'd known him, he'd only been concerned with her comfort and her happiness and what _she_ wanted.

His sibling would know him best of all. If Alicia said Riley had broken his heart and hurt him the way she had implied it, than he had no obligation to be so open and friendly with Riley and every right to be distant and cold.

Charlie honestly was a great guy.

"You okay, Riley?" Charlie asked, his brows slightly furrowed in concern. "You kind of seem to be spacing out."

"Oh!" she squeaked, chuckling nervously as she tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Just peachy!"

Riley felt her cheeks heat up in slight mortification, not realizing how long she had been staring at him. She quickly averted her gaze, her heart skipping a beat in her chest as she continued to help organize the research.


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: In defense of our Cheese Soufflé, people who call Charlie a "creeper" are forgetting that everyone—with the exception of Lucas and Zay—have all done creepy things at one point or another. Maya towards Josh every single time, Farkle towards Maya _and_ Riley in season 1, Riley towards Lucas in season 1. Why does Charlie get pinned as a creeper? He's done no worse than the others and honestly, out of all the other people's creeper things, his is THE LEAST creepy.**

 **Thank you for the lovely reviews! You all are too sweet to me and I honestly appreciate all the love you have given me! I'm glad you are enjoying the story! Thank you for reading it, loves! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Thank you for dinner, Ms. Gardner." Riley said as she pulled her coat from the rack. "It was great."

"You're very welcome, Riley." Ruth said congenially, helping her put her arms through the holes. Riley had to squat a tiny bit since the woman was a bit shorter than her. "And sorry about Vicky's little food fight with Nicky. They tend to do that a lot."

"No harm done. I didn't get any mashed potatoes to the face." Riley laughed. "And I kind of thought it was adorable. The twins are very cute."

She and Charlie had ended up working quite late. Riley had stayed over for dinner at his mother's insistence, and her father had said it was fine for her to stay, but now that her curfew was approaching, he'd been sending her multiple texts with angry emojis (and other ridiculous ones that had no business being in the message, like the smiling poo) to come home. Charlie had promised he would give her a ride back home.

"You're a sweet girl."

Riley smiled tightly as she buttoned up her peacoat, wondering if Ruth knew about how Riley had hurt Charlie. If Alicia picked up on it, then Riley had no doubt his mother knew. And if Ruth knew, would she really think Riley was _sweet_? She didn't seem to be disgusted with Riley though. Her features were also open and friendly, very similar in expression to Charlie's, and Riley could see that Charlie really took after his mom in some ways. The beautiful green eyes especially.

But just because she was being nice didn't mean she liked Riley.

Riley opened her mouth to apologize to her as well, but Ruth beat her to the punch.

"Riley. You don't need to feel nervous or guilty or like you owe me or anyone else an apology," Ruth stated, reading her mind. "You didn't do anything wrong to Charlie, and you didn't do anything wrong to us. Alicia told me what she said to you earlier about hurting Charlie. I told her to apologize and to think about what situation you were put in, but you probably know my daughter by now. Difficult, stubborn, and refuses to admit when she's wrong."

Riley chewed slightly on her lower lip in hesitation. Even if her conversation with Alicia had been somewhat daunting, nothing that she'd said had been a lie.

"But I did hurt him."

"It's okay. You didn't feel the same way, and it wasn't your obligation to either. So stop feeling like it's a bad thing that you turned him down. You're entitled to your own feelings too, okay?"

"Okay." Riley nodded.

"You really are a lovely, sweet girl." Ruth chuckled softly. "I can understand why Charlie had such a huge crush on you. You're very cute."

Riley blushed somewhat bashfully, curling a piece of hair behind her ear.

"Uh, thank you."

"Have a good night, okay? And feel free to stay for dinner any time. Any friend of Charlie's is a friend of ours." Ruth yawned, walking back towards the couch where the twins were wrestling over the remote control of the TV. "Alright you two. Time for you guys to read. I'm going to work soon, and I want you guys seated on the couch reading by the time I leave."

Charlie walked out of the hallway, coming back from grabbing his car keys from his room.

"Ready to go?"

"Yupp."

Riley thanked him as he opened the door for her, following after her as they made their way back down the hallway of his floor. She couldn't deny that she felt lighthearted, a slight spring to her steps. It was like all the remaining tensions she'd been feeling around Charlie had finally disappeared. She wondered if it was because she felt like what had happened in the past was finally put behind them in all ways.

Riley no longer had feelings for Lucas. Lucas had moved on from his romantic relationship with Riley. Charlie and her were becoming actual friends and opening up to each other despite the way their relationship had ended. Charlie had forgiven her for using him. She had forgiven Charlie for making her a bit uncomfortable. And aside from Maya pretending like she wasn't interested in Lucas anymore, those bad memories of that awkward time seemed to be behind them all.

She smiled, feeling admittedly better.

And for some reason, knowing Charlie didn't hate her was the most relieving thing overall.


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: Part 1 of this chapter.  
**

 **Thank you for being so sweet! I appreciate the kind reviews! I thank you for the support and for reading this story! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"They called you Chuckles in Maine?" Riley giggled, trying to keep her snickering behind her hand so Mrs. Berkeley wouldn't catch them talking in class.

"Or Chuck."

"Is that why Alicia calls you Upchuck?"

"Among other reasons…" Charlie muttered, looking a little embarrassed.

Riley's grin grew. "Among other reasons? Like what?"

"No way." Charlie snorted, glancing briefly at the board where their teacher was writing information for the notes they were supposed to be taking. "It's a secret."

"Miss Matthews, Mr. Gardner, please cease and desist your chatting in my class." Mrs. Berkeley suddenly barked.

Riley ducked her head, folding her lips in to try to hold back her giggles at getting caught. Riley usually wasn't the type of person to talk in class or disrupt it for that matter, but Charlie sat next to her for class that day and before she knew it, they'd started conversing and she found herself distracted. She didn't know how they had gotten to this particular conversation topic, but she wasn't objecting to talking to him. Charlie made her laugh. He was a little goofy in some ways, but he was very sweet to her always.

"C'mon Charlie. You can't just say 'among other reasons' and then not elaborate." Riley whispered. "You have to tell me why."

"Nope." He grinned.

"I'll ask your mother then." Riley rose a brow. "Or the twins. I'm sure either of them would be willing to supply that information."

"Are you blackmailing me?" Charlie put his hand on his heart in fake offence. "Is the _Riley Matthews_ really blackmailing me?"

"When you're friends with Maya for as long as I've been, you start to pick up on a few things." Riley responded playfully. "So? Will you tell me why or will it be your mother?"

"You can't laugh. Promise you won't laugh or I won't tell you."

"I promise."

Charlie sighed. "Fine. Up until I started high school, every time we went on a Ferris wheel, I always threw up."

"When you got back on the ground?"

"Not quite… Some people think bird poop landing on their heads is bad."

Riley started laughing, trying to hide her face from him. She felt bad, but she couldn't help it. She could just imagine Charlie green in the face and hurling over the side of his seat as people fled the area.

"You said you wouldn't laugh!"

"I really tried not to!" Riley said. "I'm sorry!"

"Miss Matthews! Mr. Gardner!" Mrs. Berkeley spun on her heel, glaring at the two of them. "What did I just say—"

The bell suddenly rang loud and clear before she could finish her tirade and she dropped her hands to her side, rolling her eyes in exasperation.

"Class dismissed," she growled.

Charlie and Riley rushed to grab their books and stuff them in their bags before Mrs. Berkeley decided to keep them after class to lecture them. Riley hurried after Charlie, keeping her laughter at bay as they walked by their teacher's desk. But as soon as they were outside of the class, they both glanced at each other and dissolved into laughter.

"That was close," he muttered. "I thought she was really going to chew us out."

"Definitely a close call." Riley agreed, walking beside him as they began to make their way to the hallway with the junior lockers. "So. What's the plan for today? We can't really do anything or move forward with our project preparations until we get back our thesis with corrections."

"Well, I have to babysit my sisters tonight, but I'm going downtown to find out how to sign up for the hockey league until six. We just need to finish up organizing our research until we get our thesis back on Monday, right?"

"Yeah." Riley said, turning to face him when they stopped by her locker. "Okay, then I'll see you at six to finish up research. And then I guess on Monday we can officially start deciding the other project components."

"Alright then." Charlie said with a smile. "See you tonight."

He started to leave, and Riley frowned, wondering what Charlie's plans would be for the coming weekend. He was technically a new kid at the school. Did Charlie have a group yet that he hung out with?

"Charlie, wait."

He turned back around.

"What's up?"

"I meant to ask you," Riley said. "How is it like being back in New York?"

Charlie shrugged, looking a little confused. "Same as before, I guess?"

"No, I meant, you're at a high school with people you don't really know. How is that? I mean, how's the whole making friends thing?"

"Oh. Well, I do know a few people here." He slipped his hands in his jacket pocket. "It's been alright. I'll meet more people as the year goes on. I'm not really trying to hang out with people right now since I'm pretty busy with the move and all the license and transfer stuff I have to deal with."

"Well okay. Because you're welcome to hang out with me and my friends if you want to."

"I appreciate the invite." Charlie smiled. "Once I'm more settled in back home, I'll start trying to hang out with people."

"Alright. Well good luck with the hockey league stuff."

"Thanks. See you later."

Charlie waved and walked around the corner of the hall to go to his locker. Riley watched him go with a pensive look on her face. Charlie was busy right now because he'd recently moved back to New York, but she was a bit concerned that once he'd gotten that out of the way, who was he going to hang out with or spend time with? She wanted more people to know Charlie. He was really easy to talk to and was pretty friendly with her. She didn't doubt he would get along great with many people in the school. He would need opportunities to meet people though. But above that, he would need opportunities for people to meet _him_.

And that was when it hit Riley. The perfect way to do _just_ that.

She would throw him a welcome back kickback party.

He could get to know more people in the school and then he would have an ample opportunity to befriend them. It was win-win and perfect, and Riley knew exactly the best time to do so.

Her parents would be gone that Friday, and she didn't have any huge assignments or tests coming up the following week. She was sure her dad wouldn't be opposed to her having a small, unsupervised get-together for friends. And once she told him her motivations behind wanting to throw the party, he would definitely approve.

Squealing excitedly, Riley yanked open her locker to get her books and start planning the surprise party.


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: Part 2 of this chapter. It's unrevised! I'm sorry!  
**

 **Thank you for being so sweet! I appreciate the kind reviews! I thank you for the support and for reading this story! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Alright Riley. You've been bouncing off the walls pretty much the entire time we've been here." Farkle said, to everyone's nods in agreement. "So spill. Why are you so excited?"

"We're throwing Charlie Gardner a surprise welcome back party tomorrow!" Riley exclaimed, no longer able to keep her plans to herself. "I have everything sorted out! This is just a small get together to welcome him back. My mom and dad are going out to dinner on Friday night and Auggie will be hanging out with Doy, but they said it was okay to have it as long as this doesn't get wild."

"Charlie?" Lucas' brows rose in surprise. "I didn't know he was at our high school."

"I'm pretty sure he's in Pre-Calc with us," Zay said in amusement, giving Lucas a raised brow. "Maybe if you stopped flirting with Blonde Beauty long enough to pay attention to what's going on around you in class, you would have noticed."

Farkle snickered as Lucas shot Zay a dirty look, clearly telling him to shut his trap.

"He moved back this week," Maya said, completely ignoring Zay's comment, her attention on the game on Lucas' phone. "Why are you throwing him a party, Riley?"

"I don't know." Riley shrugged, thanking the waitress as she picked up the empty glass of her pineapple mango smoothie. "I just want him to meet more people here. I feel like with his move, he hasn't had that much of a chance to get to know people and I want him to. No new kid should spend their time alone. Friends are important. So I wanted to throw him a party."

"Okay," Zay said. "I'm in. I'll be the DJ and supply the alcohol."

Maya shot her hand into the air excitedly, sitting up straighter with a grin. "Oooh! I second the alcohol. Hell, I'll bring some."

 _"No alcohol."_

Riley and Lucas said simultaneously, giving them both disparaging glares.

"Need I remind you of the table incident on New Year's Eve?" Lucas pointed out, quirking a brow in Maya's direction. "And your birthday?"

"It's not like I flashed _everyone_. I had a bra on. Besides…" she smirked. "You certainly weren't complaining about the view."

Lucas' eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Maya."

"Relax Huckleberry." Maya laughed, giving him back his phone and stretching her arms above her head with a loud yawn. "I was just kidding about the alcohol."

"I wasn't." Zay muttered.

"No alcohol or I'll get in trouble with my parents and they'll never trust me again! Anyway," Riley drew out the word, trying to bring their attention back to her. "Lucas, can you bring snacks and drinks with Maya after her softball game tomorrow? I know you're going to be there, so if you guys could handle that, that would be great."

"Sure thing." Lucas replied.

"Zay, I want you to help me set up the party tomorrow night."

"What time is the party?"

"I was thinking it could start around nine since Maya's game will probably be over around six. So maybe if you show up around seven that would be great."

"You've got it, Bambi."

"And Farkle," Riley continued, "bring party goods and plates and napkins and stuff. You and Lucas and Maya should also come around seven with the things you need to bring. I don't think I need to tell you that this party has to stay a secret from Charlie. Everything clear? Have you got your jobs in order?"

"Yeah."

"Yupp."

"Great!" Riley grinned. "This is going to be the perfect party!"

" _Maya_." Katy hollered from across Topanga's, hurrying over to a table with drinks in her hand. "You're supposed to be working right now. Your break ended twenty minutes ago. Do you mind getting back to work?"

"Sorry, Mom! I'll get to it." Maya yelled back. She stood up, yanking her apron from the table to tie it back on. "See you guys later."

She picked up Zay's cleaned plate of cheesecake and Farkle's mug and hurried away before her mom scolded her again.

"So who else is invited to this party?" Zay asked. "Because I think I can make a strong case for the cheerleaders to be there. And of the cheerleaders, _Alyssa Ferrari_. She's all spice and nothing nice. Just my type."

"No. Not Alyssa. If she hears of this party, everyone in the grade will be there," Riley said in concern. The last thing she needed was the rest of the cheerleading squad finding out and then the whole football team coming to the party. She wanted to keep it quaint. Maybe she didn't know Charlie very well at the moment, but she had a feeling he wouldn't be a huge fan of a giant, crazy party. He honestly did seem like the quiet, chill type. "Let's keep it on the down low, okay? Everyone invite a few of your friends and of course the ones who hung out with Charlie in middle school. But no one else can know. We have only tonight and tomorrow to get everyone who's coming clued in before the party in the evening, so we have to handle it as soon as possible."

Farkle stood up. "In that case, I'll head out and get the stuff tonight since I have debate tomorrow afternoon."

"I'll come with you," Zay said. "I need to check out some speakers at an appliance store."

"I'm going to a grocery store," Farkle said as he made his way towards the door, frowning as he stared at Zay.

"Yes, but you have a car. Drop me off on your way."

Farkle rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath as he and Zay headed out of Topanga's.

"Ae you leaving any time soon?" Riley asked Lucas as she placed her planner back into her school bag, preparing to leave to head to Charlie's.

Maybe she could catch a ride with Lucas since Charlie didn't live particularly close to this area.

"No, uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck, glancing briefly at Maya serving a table their pastries. "Maya's mom is doing inventory tonight so I was going to wait until her shift was over to give her a ride home."

"Oh. I see." Riley's lips pulled up into a wide grin.

"You see what?" Lucas asked warily.

Riley giggled and stood from her seat, moving over and plopping onto the one next to Lucas. He leaned a little bit away from her, looking incredibly nervous all of a sudden.

"So." Riley asked slowly. "What's going on between you and Maya?"

He stared at her, clearly surprised by her question, but she caught the sudden apprehension in his gaze. She'd definitely caught onto something. He was trapped.

"What?"

"You and Maya, Lucas. Why aren't you dating?"

"Because we're just friends, Riley."

"No you're not." Riley frowned. "You're still interested in each other. I can tell. So why haven't either of you made a move?"

"I have made a move. Several. It's not like I _accidentally_ make out with her." He ran a hand through his hair, sighing in defeat. "She keeps giving me mixed signals. Half the time, she reciprocates and I feel like she wants to be with me too. The other half… well, you've seen her punch me."

"I think Maya is just scared, Lucas." Riley responded. "She wants to have the relationship with you, but after the whole fiasco back when we were younger, I think she lost a lot of hope for it. And then freshman year was kind of tense and awkward at times. I think she's trying to hold back because she doesn't want to possibly end up hurt again."

Lucas stared at Maya as she rang up someone's order at the counter. She briefly glanced up and saw them both looking at her. Trying to hold back her smile, she stuck out her tongue playfully before turning to give her customer their change.

"…There's really no way to get her to open up if she doesn't want to." Lucas finally said.

"She'll come around. She won't listen to me, but you just have to show her you still want to pursue and that your feelings for her are one hundred percent genuine."

"What makes you think if her best friend can't get her to listen that I'll have any luck?"

"Because I believe in you, Lucas. And I believe that Maya likes you too. And I believe that you and Maya are meant to be together." Riley smiled. "But it's also because you're the only person who can get through Maya's thick skull."

Lucas snorted, rolling his eyes in amusement. "Thanks, Riley."

"Good luck." She patted his shoulder as she snatched her bag from the ground and stood up. "Don't you dare forget to get snacks and drinks tomorrow, or I'll get mad at you both."

"No offence, but you guys always complain about the snacks I like and say that they're too healthy. Why do you have me on snack duty?"

"That's what Maya is for. She'll dictate what to bring. You're buying."

"So I'm just being used to pay for all the stuff." He deadpanned.

"Precisely." Riley giggled. "Anyway, I'll see you later. Don't be late tomorrow!"

She hurried out of Topanga's to get to Charlie's, excited about what was to come the next day. She couldn't wait to see Charlie's face when he walked into his party.


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: It's been a while lol. I finally finished the notes to this story, so I'll try to finish it up sooner.  
**

 **Thank you for your kindest! You are wonderful and I don't deserve the sweet words you have given me! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Funniest thing," Charlie said. "Earlier today, Alicia asked me if you were coming over today to work on the project. I've never seen her ask about anyone before. It was such a shock I almost wondered if she was my real sister."

Riley giggled, flipping a page in their textbook and marking where she'd gotten a source. They were just about done for the evening, and Riley had to get home soon before her dad started acting up again. She didn't want to get the lecture of her life from coming home late.

"What did you do to her?" he asked in awe.

"Nothing. We just had a little talk. Woman to woman," Riley replied. "What did she ask about?"

"She wanted to know if you knew where to find the rest of the Harry Potter series because the library has all of them checked out already and the waiting line is long and she doesn't have any money to buy them."

Was that Alicia's attempt to make amends for what had happened the evening before? Ruth had told Riley Alicia wasn't one to apologize. Maybe this was her method of trying to reach out.

"Okay. Tell her not to worry about it. I've got her covered."

Charlie rose a brow. "Okay… Are you going to tell me what your plan is?"

"Nope," she replied cheerfully.

He chuckled, leaning back against his desk and messing with a rubber band on the carpet.

"I figured. What I'm curious about is why she's asking you about finding the Harry Potter books."

"Also a secret~" Riley singsonged.

"So you have more loyalty to my little sister than to me? Why does this always happen?" Charlie muttered, pretending to be in despair.

Riley laughed. "She's cute."

"You mean troublesome and problematic."

"I think she just needs to let off some steam, but she seems like a really sweet girl."

And Riley honestly believed that. Even if Alicia had gone off on her and insulted her, Riley hadn't felt true malice or vitriol in her words. Just a kind of disappointment. Alicia probably had a guard up most of the time, but no doubt it was to protect a gentle, sensitive, compassionate soul. Riley could feel that given time, she and Alicia would get along pretty well.

"Are we still talking about Alicia May Gardner here?"

"Stop it!" Riley giggled, nudging him as she turned a page in her book. "You know you love your sister."

She caught sight of a neon orange post-it note she'd left in the middle of page that said 'CHARLIE PARTY' in huge block letters. Gasping softly, she quickly slammed the book shut.

"What's up?" he asked, a bit concerned by her sudden reaction.

"Uh ummm… uh nothing! We're just done for the day and I was so excited that I slammed my book shut to feel the satisfaction!"

Riley could feel her cheeks slowly flushing in embarrassment. She knew it was one of her worst cover-ups, and she resisted the urge to face palm when Charlie gave her a small, confused half smile. At least he had the decency not to call her out on her stupid outburst that also made absolutely no sense.

"So Charlie." She cleared her throat, starting over and tucking strands of loose hair behind her ear. "How does it feel to have officially survived your first week?"

He shrugged. "I don't really know. School is school, you know?"

"Still. Tomorrow's Friday. Are you going to commemorate it with something tomorrow night? Like going to a movie with your friends? Or something? Or are you babysitting? Or something?"

"Uh… Probably going to play video games and chill at home." He frowned. "Maybe call some friends in Maine. I don't really have anything going on right now so—"

"Good! Don't make any plans tomorrow, okay? We have to work on our project. Come to my place at nine, okay?"

He stared at Riley, his brows furrowed suspiciously. "That's pretty late. Why nine?"

"I'm uh… I'm going to dinner with my parents so I won't be home before then." She lied, her voice squeaking awkwardly as was customary when she tried to make an excuse. "Nine okay? You must come at nine. Not earlier."

"Okay…?"

She gathered her books and bag and stood up to leave when she got her dad's first warning text.

"I'll see you at nine tomorrow evening."

"Alright then. Nine."

She rushed off to go catch her subway, mentally glad that Charlie had to watch his sisters that night so he couldn't give her a ride home. She would have been too embarrassed anyway. Especially after her total blunder trying to get him to come over at nine.

"Real subtle, Riley…" she muttered, wishing she was better at being sly and skillfully secretive instead of painfully obvious. Maybe she should have asked Maya for a couple tips first.

But at least she'd gotten his confirmation that he'd be available at that time. Charlie's welcome back party was a go and Riley knew he would be absolutely thrilled.


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: This day is split up into many parts. Here's Part I of Friday night.  
**

 **I appreciate the sweet reviews you have given me! Thank you for being so wonderful and kind and lovely! You all are so special to me! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

As soon as the bell rang for the end of classes, Riley bounded out of her classroom in excitement, heading straight to Charlie's locker. Today was the day of the party, and she could barely contain her excitement. Especially when her friends had assured her that everything would be taken care of. All she needed to confirm he was going to be there.

Charlie was still putting his books away in his locker when she stopped beside him.

"Hey Charlie. I saw this at the library and thought of you," she said without prelude, tugging the book out of her bag. "It's a book about songwriting techniques."

The side of his mouth quirked up in that cute crooked smile as he turned to her.

"For me?" He brought a hand to his heart, pretending to be super touched. "What for?"

"So that you can finish your song, duh! I figured this might give you some motivation since you're stuck on the second verse. I really think this will help."

He chuckled. "Always believing in people. You won't give up about that, will you?"

"Do you know me at all?" Riley said playfully.

Charlie laughed, taking the book and looking at the cover. "Alright. Since you _pushed_ so nicely. I'll try."

"Great because I loved it. Have you decided on a name for the song yet?"

"Nothing comes to mind yet. Maybe I'll figure it out later once I've written out the rest."

"Let me know what you come up with!" Riley smiled, pulling out another small bag, this one with a bundle of books, her entire Harry Potter collection, inside of it. "And here, this is for Alicia, so she can enjoy the rest of the books in the series."

Charlie looked surprised as he took it. "Wow, that's really sweet of you. I'm sure she'll be really happy."

"And I'm glad." She rucked her bag further up on her shoulder. She had to get a move on if she wanted to start cleaning her apartment up a bit before the party. "Well, I've got to go. But we're still on for tonight, right?"

He nodded. "Not eight fifty-nine. Not nine oh-one, but nine, right?"

"You got it." Riley grinned, turning to head on her way. "I'll see you later, Charlie!"

This was going to be a blast.


	15. Chapter 14

**A/N: Part II of Friday night.  
**

 **I appreciate the sweet reviews you have given me! Thank you for being so wonderful and kind and lovely! You all are so special to me! :3**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

Riley should have known that leaving the invites in the care of her friends would be a disaster.

And a disaster it truly was.

It was crazy ridiculous how many people were at her apartment for the party. It was loud, full of wild teens who Riley would never have invited had she taken care of it herself. It was so much bigger than a simple get together and was starting to look like more of a rager than a small kickback. She didn't know half the people in her apartment and the music blasting through the room was making the walls shake.

"Has anyone seen Charlie?" Riley shouted, her hands cupped around her mouth. "He was supposed to be here a half hour ago."

She saw two people about to hurl her mother's prized vase like a football and rushed over to them, snatching it out of the guy's hand and giving him a stern look. Riley hid it in the cabinet under the sink and then looked around in exasperation, trying to figure out how her party had gone from a nice little get together with people chatting and hanging out to way too many people getting up on furniture and dancing with _alcohol_ of all things.

She'd gone to the convenience store to buy a gallon of water, and when she came back, the party had turned into this. She'd been running around everywhere trying to minimize damage and find Charlie to no avail. What the heck had happened?

Riley was so busted. Her neighbours were going to call the cops on them. Or worse. Tell her _parents_ there'd been noisy disturbances coming from their apartment all night. She needed to do damage control.

She caught sight of Farkle sitting around the coffee table playing poker with some other people. The group groaned in annoyance when he won that hand once again, glaring as he scooped the chips up, dragging them towards him with a smug grin.

"Farkle, have you seen Charlie?" Riley approached him with purpose. "And where's Maya? We need to shut this party down!"

"Haven't seen Charlie," Farkle said, gesturing to the corner where they'd pushed the bigger furniture as the cards were dealt again. "Maya's on the couch."

Riley turned, and Maya was currently preoccupied, clearly making out with Lucas. Darby and Yogi were also kissing on the couch, as well as some other couples who were talking closely or flirting. Leave it to her friends to create a darned makeout corner.

Maya wasn't going to be any help. Riley rolled her eyes with a sigh, heading to Zay standing behind the laptop currently connected to the speakers that were playing the music.

"Zay, have you seen Charlie?!" Riley yelled over the loud music nearly blasting out her eardrums.

"Nope," Zay said. "But isn't this party amazing?"

"No! No it's not! This is _not_ what I wanted to happened! This was supposed to be a nice, quiet, quaint little party. What did you guys do?! This is such a mess! I'm going to get grounded for life and my parents won't trust me anymore and what's worst is that Charlie didn't even show up so my entire purpose for the party doesn't even matter anymore because I wanted him to be here and he didn't show—"

"Riley," Zay cut her off with a frown. "Chill. It's not the end of the world. You're kind of freaking out. Maybe you should get some fresh air… or a Xanax."

"Hardy har har, Zay. This isn't funny! My life is officially over."

He walked out from behind his laptop with a sigh, taking her shoulders and turning her around.

"You're being dramatic." He patted her back soothingly. "Why don't you go to your bay window, relax a bit, take a breather, and then we'll figure out what to do once you're feeling better. In the meantime, I'll take care of this, okay? Sound good?"

"Fine…" she grumbled, too exhausted to fight this anymore.

She dragged her feet out of the rambunctious living room and towards her bedroom dejectedly. This was truly a mess of epic proportions. What was the purpose of this ridiculous party if the guest of honour hadn't even arrived?

She'd failed. And Riley _hated_ failing in her plans.

Riley grabbed her jacket from her bed and pulled open the window to climb out onto the fire escape so she could relax. There was someone already out there, and she froze, blinking in surprise when she saw Charlie sitting on one of her chairs, staring at the street below. Riley did a double take, confused out of her mind.

"Charlie?!" she asked incredulously as she climbed out of her bay window. "How long have you been sitting here?"

"Since nine." He laughed. "I came just as you wanted for the project, but you weren't in your room. I really wasn't expecting to find some crazy party at your place. Maya's doing?"

"Urgh no…" Riley groaned as she slumped down in the chair next to him. "I threw it for you."

Charlie stared at her, stunned by her admittance. "…Why?"

"It was supposed to be a small welcome back party to celebrate you coming back. But it got really screwed up."

"That's nice of you. But you didn't have to go through all that trouble for me."

"I wanted to."

She really wanted to make him feel welcomed. She only wished she had been more careful in how she executed her plan.

"I appreciate it, Riley." Charlie chuckled, gesturing towards the inside of the apartment. "But no offense, this is clearly a mess."

"I know… I am so grounded." Riley leaned her head back against the brick wall. "I just want to hand over the party to Maya. This is clearly not my area of expertise."

"You sure?" He scratched his head, a faint blush on his cheeks, looking a little embarrassed. "I mean, when I came in here, she looked a little, uh… busy?"

Riley giggled. "Yeah… Maybe not the best idea. But at least Zay's in there. He said he would take care of it."

Though she was a little worried about whether or not he was actually reliable.

"You know…" He shrugged, glancing at her. "We don't have to stay."

Riley frowned in confusion. "What?"

"Zay's in there, right?" Charlie grinned as he stood up, slipping his hands into his pocket. "All of your friends are."

Honestly, Riley was intrigued by the notion. She felt kind of rebellious leaving the party with the guest of honour, but she didn't want to stay here. And from the looks of it, this wasn't Charlie's kind of party either, hence the reason why he was clearly sitting outside her window instead of enjoying the party with the others. Ah, to heck with it. She _was_ pretty intrigued by his offer.

"…Well where would we go?"

"You like open mic nights?"

"I've never been to one before."

"Then let's go." He smiled, holding his hand out to her, and Riley felt her stomach flutter as she stared into his eyes. "Let's ditch the party and go to an open mic night."

"Okay!"

Excited, she took his hand, giggling as he pulled her to her feet. It was kind of chilly outside, but his hand was warm, and she soon forgot about the cold numbing her cheeks and nose. They ran down the fire escape stairs, leaving the noisy party behind to go on their adventure.


	16. Chapter 15

**A/N:** **I've actually done open mics before. It's terrifying, but I'm telling you the feeling once you're done is such a rush. It is so gratifying.**

 **Thank you for the lovely reviews! As always, you all are absolutely wonderful! If I haven't responded yet, I apologise! I wanted to finish this story completely and publish all the chapters and then respond once I finish everything. I hope the rest of the story is to your liking, and so sorry if it seems rushed, because tbh, I did have to hurry to finish this before I leave for my term.  
**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Wow, I've never been here before…" Riley said in awe as they entered the doors of Orion, some weird hole in the wall hangout place that she had never heard of before. "How did you discover this place?"

The crowd was relatively large tonight, considering the size of the joint. Despite that, it was still cozy and had this really cool atmosphere; it was the kind of place where you felt like you were in another life and could abandon your worries for a few hours. Everyone there seemed really chill and were all watching the stage reverently as two old women performed a duet with a fiddle and tambourine. She liked the vibe the room gave off. This seemed like the kind of place that she would definitely go to frequently.

"My hockey coach in Maine actually used to live here and told me about this place. It's been around for years," Charlie replied as they both sat down at an empty table towards the back. "He said if I was ever looking for cool night places to hang out for people under 18, this was the place to go. They host all sorts of things here. When I heard about the open mic night, I knew I wanted to check it out."

Riley nodded, settling into her seat with an eager smile as she watched the artists come and go and perform their songs. It was really incredible to her how creative people were, how they pieced together their music and lyrics, and above that, how courageous they were to go up in front of a crowd and perform their hearts out. Riley was sucked into the magic of the evening, her smile growing ever wider with all she saw.

"Thank you, ladies and gentlemen," the host said in the microphone after the applause had finally subsided. The last performer—a keyboardist with a soothing voice that reminded her of Boy George—had just gotten off the stage. "That was it for everyone who signed up on our list, but we don't have to stop the evening. If anyone wants to come up and perform twice or who didn't sign up at all, feel free."

And then to her surprise, Charlie stood up. "I'll go."

Riley stared at him, shocked, as he made his way to the stage to people clapping and cheering him on. She really hadn't expected that, but she clapped along with the others. It was great that he was pushing himself out of his comfort zone to perform in front of people.

"Could I borrow someone's guitar and pick, please?" he asked in the microphone.

"You can borrow mine, dear." A middle aged woman from the front row gave him her acoustic.

Charlie thanked her as he plugged it up into the amp and tuned it a bit. When he'd finally sat down on the stool in the middle of the stage and settled to play, he faced the audience with a slightly anxious smile. The crowd grew quiet, and Charlie swallowed thickly.

"So, my name's Charlie Gardner—"

"Hi Charlie!" someone shouted from the crowd. "You're a cutie, Charlie!"

"Hey… Thanks." he laughed, a little nervous as he lightly strummed a couple random chords. "So this song is something I started two years ago. I pushed myself to finish it thanks to encouragement from a friend. It's called Bright Eyed, Big Hearted Girl. Name sucks, but it's a work in progress. Okay, so here we go."

Riley could tell Charlie was nervous as he began finger picking the opening chords of his song. The sound he was producing was a little quiet and his humming seemed a little shaky. As he continued into the first verse, his shoulders loosened up and his playing grew less twangy and more pronounced and confident.

But it wasn't until the first chorus that he fully delved into the song.

And Riley was sure that time stood still.

She definitely had not heard him singing to his full potential when he'd given her a little preview that one time. Because Charlie was _fantastic_ , pouring his emotion out into every word of the song. She had never heard someone with a voice like his before, smooth and rich, sounding like she was taking a dip into a pool of melted chocolate or as intoxicating as the feeling when delicious hot tea heated up her chest and stomach on a cold winter evening.

She had loved the song before, but the finished product was absolutely beautiful. The kind of song that if a guy sang to her, she was sure she would fall for him. She was transfixed by him and when their eyes met across the room and his lips quirked up a bit in that cute crooked smile, Riley couldn't deny that her heart jumped in her chest.

All too soon, the song was over, and Riley was already missing the warmth of his voice. But the standing ovation he got from the crowd was definitely deserved. She didn't think anyone had really expected him to come out like that and blow them all away.

Charlie gave the guitar back to the woman and headed back to their table, smiling at people clapping him on the back and thanking them sincerely, though the tips of his ears were a bit red.

He sat back down next to Riley almost sheepishly. "The title could use a lot of work, but what do you think?"

"Charlie, I loved it!" Riley exclaimed in hushed tones as someone else began to take the stage. "It was so amazing. _You're_ so amazing! I can't even think of any words because it was so darn amazing!"

"Thanks." He really looked relieved. "I'm glad you think so. That means a lot, since you know, you're the one who pushed me to finish it last night. Finally had the inspiration to do so. Thank you for believing in me."

"Anytime, Charlie."

Then her phone buzzed in her pocket. It was a text from her dad in all caps. He was furious with her and basically sent her ten messages in a row saying that she was grounded for life and to return home immediately. Riley gasped as dread pooled in her stomach. She texted a quick reply letting him know she was on her way home immediately.

"What's wrong?" Charlie asked, concerned.

"Party's busted, and I am in sooooo much trouble," Riley groaned under her breath. Her father would never let her hear the end of his disappointment with her. "I guess the bubble has pooped…"

Charlie stared at her for a few seconds before he started laughing under his breath.

She looked at him, semi-affronted. "That's not funny."

"I'm not laughing at you getting in trouble," he amended, giving her an apologetic pat on her shoulder though he was still snickering. "You messed up a phrase though. It's 'bubble has popped'."

"Oh, right." Riley tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, giggling a bit and wanting to crawl in a hole. "I don't know why messed that up."

It was embarrassing when she made verbal blunders like that. But that habit of messing up words only really happened around people she was nervous. She wasn't really sure why she was suddenly a bit self-conscious around Charlie.

"C'mon. I'll drive you home," Charlie said as he pulled on his jacket. "Alicia just texted me too. Vicky is getting a little volatile. I'm the only one who can really calm her down when she turns into She Hulk."

Riley laughed as she also gathered her belongings so they could leave.

Charlie rose a brow, though he was smiling too. "You don't have to laugh at my lame jokes, Riley. I really won't mind."

"But I thought it was funny!" she said indignantly.

Once they had their things in order, they quietly ducked out of the hangout place and back into the cold night air. They practically ran to his car to avoid the cold.

"Let me get that for you." Charlie opened his car door for her and bowed down playfully, like a prince. "Do be careful stepping into the metal machine, milady."

Riley curtsied as well, holding her chin up all prim and proper to imitate royalty. "Why thank you, kind sir. I shall."

They started snorting at their ridiculous behaviour as they hurried to climb in and start up the car to get the heat going. Riley didn't think the wide grin on her face could ever go away. She didn't know why, but she felt elated, like her heart was soaring. It was like she could do anything. But above that, she didn't want to stop hanging out with Charlie just yet.

After he'd gotten the engine properly warmed up and was pulling out of the spot, she finally spoke up, wringing her hands. "Hey… umm, how do you feel about getting some coffee or hot chocolate or something, Charlie?"

He glanced at her briefly in confusion. "Aren't you in trouble?"

"I'm already grounded for life. Can't get worse than that." Riley shrugged, acting nonchalant, although her stomach was coiling in knots at the thought of getting into more trouble with her father. She wasn't one to horribly break rules like this, but somehow, she felt kind of okay breaking a few more rules so she could keep hanging out with Charlie. "A little hot cocoa won't kill anybody. Plus, you can get some to go to bring to Alicia as a peace offering for leaving her with the twins."

Charlie nodded pensively. "Hmmm. That's actually genius."

"So yes?"

"Sure." He grinned. "Why not?"


	17. Chapter 16

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"I'm never letting you live down that milk moustache, you know?" Charlie teased, poking her in the side. "I even have the picture to immortalise it forever."

"I'll get dirt on you one day. Just you wait, Charlie Gardner." Riley laughed, swinging her purse back and forth as they walked languidly down the hallway of the floor of her apartment. Once again, she began to feel a subtle dread that the fun evening was coming to an end. "I had a lot of fun tonight."

"Yeah. Tonight was really fun," he answered sincerely.

"But I'm kind of surprised," she continued, musing on the strange way things had changed in one week. "It's just that… I never could have believed we could actually hang out and talk like this. We actually have a lot in common. I'm glad we can though. I just wish that we had figured that out year ago. We could have been friends much earlier."

"Well, the good thing is we're friends now." He stuck his hands in his pockets. "We can properly be friends without all the awkward stuff hanging in the air."

"Yupp. And look, we even have an exclusive hangout spot just for the two of us! We're on a great path already."

They stopped in front of her apartment door, and Riley turned to him with a huge smile.

"I'm really, really glad you took me to Orion and performed tonight because this was such an _incredible_ evening. Thank you so much for it. You introduced me to something I would love to come to again."

"You know, they have a free jazz night next week," Charlie said. "I was wondering if you wanted to come with me."

Riley nodded, butterflies fluttering her stomach when she met his gaze. "I would love that, Charlie."

"Awesome. I'll send you the details when I get home." His phone buzzed again, followed by a bunch more buzzes and he winced. "Yikes. Those are probably Alicia's angry texts. I've gotta go. See you at school?"

"Mmhmm…"

With one last wave and a small smile, Charlie headed back down the hallway. Even after he disappeared around the corner, Riley couldn't help but stare after him, her pulse racing and her mind a million miles away.

Well, until her dad suddenly opened the door behind her and she crashed back to earth.


	18. Chapter 17

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Got some snacks," Maya said excitedly, plopping back down next to Riley on her bed with a whole box of Cheez-Its. "I felt like such a spy! Your dad didn't even catch me as I was sneaking through the kitchen."

Riley chuckled, rolling her eyes at Maya's theatrics. Still though, she appreciated her effort. Riley wasn't technically allowed to have friends over, but Maya had come by anyway that day and snuck in.

"Bummer about being grounded though. It won't affect you being able to come to the art show next week though right?"

"Of course not. My parents are even coming too, so there's no way my dad won't let me go." Riley put her laptop up and rolled onto her stomach to grab some snacks. "Anyway, where'd you go yesterday night after my dad busted the party? I thought for sure he would have made you stay to get scolded with me."

"Where did _you_ go?" Maya deflected with a suspicious look.

"I asked first."

"Oh no you don't. You ditched your own party and everyone got in trouble with your dad while you were off gallivanting somewhere. I think I deserve an answer before you do."

Riley shrugged, though she could feel her cheeks rouging from Maya's acute stare. "Charlie and I went off to an open mic night and he performed a song he made. It was no big deal."

"Cheese Soufflé is a musician?"

"Yeah, and he's really really good. We just hung out for a bit since the party was a little too crazy for either of us." Riley pretended to fix a sticker on her laptop so Maya couldn't see the fact that she was blushing. Gosh, why was she blushing? "It was just hanging out. Nothing major. And then we got some hot cocoa and talked about TV shows and college and sports. You know. The usual."

"Nothing major, huh…" Maya muttered under her breath, but she otherwise didn't question what Riley said.

Riley could still feel Maya's eyes on her though so she scrambled to change the subject. "I answered you, now tell me where you ran off to."

"Lucas and I actually snuck out before your dad could see us."

"…You _and_ Lucas?" Riley said slowly, a sly smile spreading on her face. "Where'd you go?"

"We just chilled at his place," Maya answered tightly, a little too on edge.

"Are you using a loose definition of chilled?"

"Okay, so maybe we made out a bit and stuff."

Riley's eyes went wide and she sat up quickly. "Stuff?! What kind of stuff. Illegal stuff? Did you guys—"

"No. God Riley… I didn't mean it that way. We just talked for a while. Shared stuff." Maya looked seriously uncomfortable and Riley knew she was downplaying. "I don't know. I don't want to talk about it."

"Why not?"

"Because the conversation got kind of intense. He always wants to talk about feelings, and I don't."

"I knew you had feelings for Lucas." Riley clapped her hands excitedly. "Now you can date!"

"How many times do I have to tell you I don't like him like that anymore? I'm not interested in dating him either. And they aren't _feelings_. It's just a hormonal reaction to a guy I find attractive. That's it."

"Why are you trying to downplay your obvious feelings for Lucas? Hormonal reaction? You mean _emotional_ reaction. Because you like him a lot. Dare I say _love_?"

"It has nothing to do with that," Maya asserted stubbornly.

"It has _everything_ to do with that," Riley argued petulantly.

"Riley, he's an eighteen year old guy. What do you think runs through most teen guys' minds pretty much all the time? It was hormones. Plain and simple as that."

"I don't think so. Also, I would like to point out that Charlie's not like that."

"I can guarantee you that Charlie thinks the exact same thing."

Riley frowned. "No. He's not like that."

"How do you know?"

"I just do, okay? He's different…" Riley struggled to think of the words to describe why Charlie was extremely sincere and always uplifting and sweet and sensitive and actually kind of perfect. "Like… I don't know. But he's different. In a great way. And I like that about him."

Maya's eyes narrowed as her lips curved up into a devious smile. "You've only really been hanging out with him for a week and you already think you know him for real?"

"We've gotten pretty close," Riley said, her face smushed in her covers. She squealed when Maya reached over and tickled her. "Even if Charlie may or may not be horny like that—which he's not—he's still the perfect gentleman and doesn't show it."

"You sound like you have a crush on him." Maya teased, rolling over on top of Riley's back.

"I don't." Riley felt her cheeks flush, trying to push Maya's weight off of her. "We're just friends, Maya."

"Hmmm. You sure? Because you've been spending a lot of time together."

"No, I'm sure. He's really nice. And he's a good friend to have."

"You sure, you're sure?" Maya singsonged. "Cheese Soufflé is a very cute specimen of boyo."

"Maya, stop," Riley whined. Her face felt like it was on fire.

"Not so fun when it's being turned on you, is it?" Maya finally got off of Riley.

"Okay, I can see how being badgered about something like that is annoying, but the difference is you and Lucas both have reciprocated feelings for each other. Why the heck are you so stubborn when you clearly want to be with him?"

Maya sighed, annoyed that the conversation was taking this turn again. "Riley, why are you so caught up on me and Lucas? I told you that wasn't happening anymore. Why can't you listen to me?"

"But it _is_ happening. Do you not see the way you guys look at each other? Everyone all seems to see it except for you guys," she said emphatically. "You have to be together. He likes you. A lot. And you like him. And it sucks because you guys are perfect for each other in such an odd way. I want you to be happy, but you keep trying to push him away."

"…It doesn't matter if I have feelings for him. It wouldn't last. Some things are better left in the past, Riley. And I don't want my heart broken."

"You won't get your heart broken. Not by Lucas. He'll make sure you don't."

"I don't believe that for a second. Look how happy you were with Lucas and you definitely got your heart broken. Look at my mom who loved my dad so much, and yet, their relationship was a hot mess. So please, Riley? Don't bring this up anymore. I like where I am with Lucas. Do you know how long it took us to get out of that awkward funk we were in after freshman year? We're finally the way we were before—"

"Except that you guys kiss all the time! How is that normal for friends?"

"You've kissed him too, mind you. You're normal friends, aren't you?"

"Yes, b-but that's different!"

Maya rolled her eyes. "We're still friends. With some kind of 'benefits'. And I'm not going to mess up our friendship by trying to complicate it with us dating and then failing as a couple. We're better off friends. So please don't bring this up anymore. I mean it. Or I'll have my revenge."

"Fine." She pouted.

Riley refused to give up on them though. She absolutely did not want Maya and Lucas to be a missed opportunity when they could work so well together. Maya may have decided she wanted to give up, but Riley was far from letting this thing go.

And then Cory burst into her room, pointing an accusing finger at the two of them. "You're grounded Riley! Maya's not allowed to come over!"

"Whoops." Maya laughed, clambering to her feet and scrambling to the window with the box of Cheez-Its. "Gotta go."


	19. Chapter 18

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

Sunday was an uneventful day. Thankfully, Topanga had managed to convince Cory to lessen the grounding to an earlier curfew (and Maya still being allowed to come over), but Riley was restless all day since she wanted to see Charlie.

Monday's schedule had Bio rotating out of the block so she would only see him for the project. Because Riley's curfew would make it hard to go to Charlie's and get home on time, they decided to just meet at her place instead. Plus she lived closer to the school so it was just easier overall to leave and go straight to her place. And it gave her ample time to get home before Charlie arrived so that she could clean her room spotless. And for good measure, she spritzed it and herself with some fruity perfume she'd gotten as a gift from Farkle once.

Riley knew she was being silly when she changed into a cuter dress and brushed her hair some more, but she couldn't help it. She kept feeling like she had to impress him. Even if they were only working on a project, it wasn't often that she invited a guy to her room. Still though, it wasn't enough preparation for her because when she heard the doorbell ring, she grew ten times as nervous and nearly spilled her cup of gel pens all over the floor.

"Charlie Gardner." She heard her dad say from the living room. Riley gave herself one more once over to make sure she looked as nice as she could before she rushed out of her room before her dad embarrassed her. "It's good to see you again."

Riley grabbed Charlie's arm and tugged him away immediately. "We're just going to work in my room, okay Daddy?"

"Oh no you don't," Cory said, raising a brow and looking panicked. "Living room only."

"Relax! Nothing is going to happen."

Her father looked like he was gearing up to argue with her, but she rushed Charlie to her room to get away before he started acting crazier.

"I am so sorry about this. He was probably going to interrogate you, but I'm glad I got there before it started."

"No worries," Charlie chuckled, setting his school bag on her chair and beginning to get his stuff out for them to work on the project. "But we really should get a move on since you won't be available to work on anything tomorrow. Plus I've got a report for an English class to get started on, and I haven't read the book yet."

"Right. Let's get to work."

Part of her was disappointed he hadn't made any comments on how nice her room smelled or how cute she looked or something, but she pushed it aside to get to work.

Having picked up their thesis comments from Mrs. Berkeley's mailbox, they knew what they had to work on or improve on. She approved of their project, so all that was left was to solidify the report and powerpoint and then make the poster board. They made diligent work of their assignment. Charlie was extremely focused, rarely straying off the work, but Riley couldn't stop sneaking glances at him. Then she'd catch herself staring and quickly get back to work. Only to get distracted by him again when he turned the page or something. Rinse, lather, repeat.

"Your hair got longer," Riley muttered absentmindedly.

Charlie blinked and looked up with a slightly amused look on his face. "What?"

Riley nearly choked on her spit that she'd said that out loud. "I was just saying your umm… your hair got longer than it used to be."

"I guess it did." He pulled on one of the long strands. "My mom's probably going to start bugging me to cut it again."

"Really? I like it long though. It looks nice. You look… umm, nice. Not that you don't always look nice. But… you know. It's nice. Really nice. And your hair smells pretty nice. So do your clothes. I mean, you always smell nice though. Is it your soap? Cuz the scent is, umm…"

Charlie didn't respond immediately, looking like he didn't know what to say in response to her babbling, and Riley's face slowly burned red as she grimaced.

"…Nice?" He looked like he was holding back laughter.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom!" Riley blurted out, standing up and leaving quickly before she said something else really stupid.

"Uh, okay…"

Once safely locked in the privacy of the bathroom, she splashed a bit of water on her face to cool down and stared at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were totally red, and it didn't seem to want to go away anytime soon. Why in the world was she acting so nutty? Riley sighed, willing herself to chill out. She counted backwards from ten until her face was a manageable, not so obvious red. Then she splashed water on her face one more time before she deemed herself ready to leave.

"Get it together, Riley…"

When she came back from the bathroom, Auggie was chattering excitedly with Charlie and showing him something in the book he was reading.

"Do you believe this argument suffices or should I look for a more attractive alternative? I've never lost a book debate in my life and don't intend to start now."

"I'll ask my sister Alicia what she thinks of it. She's better at stuff like that than I am," Charlie said with a laugh. "If anyone can find flaws in an argument and pick it apart, it's her."

"Thanks, Charlie. I appreciate it. It was good to see you again." Auggie started to walk out of the room, but he stopped by Riley and tugged on her sleeve. "You should keep this one. He's a cool guy."

"Auggie, stop that." She hiss whispered back. "We're working on a project."

Auggie gave her a look of disbelief that made her wonder if her face was betraying her inner turmoil or something.

"Alright." Riley rubbed her hands together and plopped back down in her spot on the carpet. "We've got the thesis figured out for tomorrow."

"Yeah. Wanna finish up our essay and powerpoint by Wednesday and then meet up on Thursday to do the poster board?"

"That's a good plan." Riley wrung the skirt of her dress in her hands. "Umm, hey, here's a thought. Did you want to come with me to Maya's art show tomorrow? You know, if you're free? It's pretty cool and they have really good food at these events."

"Actually, I'd love to. That sounds fun."

"Great!" She was so glad that he'd agreed. "We can pick up project materials after school and go straight to the centre after that."

"Good plan."

Cory cleared his throat then and Riley and Charlie spun around in surprise to see him standing in the doorway. How long had her father been there and just how much of the conversation had he heard?

"It's getting pretty late now. Would you like to stay for dinner, Charlie?"

He checked his watch. "I guess I could since I won't make it home in time. Thank you, Mr. Matthews. Let me go wash up."

"Our pleasure," Cory responded slowly, eyeing Charlie as Charlie left the room to wash his hands.

Riley stood up and jabbed his cheek in annoyance. "Dad. Don't you dare start interrogating him during dinner. As I said we are _just_ friends. He doesn't have any interest in me."

"It's not him I'm worried about…" he responded pensively, watching Riley with this odd expression on his face.

Riley frowned. "What?"

But her father didn't say anything else as he turned and left the room to get Auggie. Riley knew he meant something deeper with his comment, but she wasn't quite sure what.

All she knew was it made her nervous.


	20. Chapter 19

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Okay. Poster board. Markers. Tape. Glue. Construction paper. That's it, right?"

"Of course not!" Riley exclaimed, dragging Charlie away from the craft supplies area and towards the kid's section with toy and knick knacks. "I need a new bunny lamp since mine broke."

"Okay." Charlie laughed, letting her drag him through aisles and aisles just to find the bunny lamp.

He was a fun shopping partner. He held all the objects and bags, made no complaints about Riley wanting to buy everything and squealing over cute erasers or stickers. He even participated in some of her goofy antics. What made it even funnier was that they were dressed in their best formal event outfits and acting like children and people were definitely staring at them like they were crazy.

"One purple bunny lamp achieved," Riley cheered, sticking it in the basket Charlie was holding. "Let's get going. If we spend any more time here, I'll be tempted to buy something else."

"And we'll be late," he added, reminding her that they had somewhere they were supposed to be.

"Right," she giggled. "That too."

They headed to the front and purchased their items, chatting idly about random things like future colleges away from New York and how that would affect their families. By the time they got through the line, they were about ten minutes behind schedule and basically booked it out of the superstore to hit the road.

"But Alicia does seem like she can manage quite well without her big brother taking care of everything."

"Yeah, she'll be fine. She's resilient." He agreed, turning onto the ramp for the freeway to avoid some of the worse city traffic. "But I just don't want her to feel like she's not being appreciated. My mom has her hands full with the twins and work, so Alicia could develop middle child syndrome. She acts like she doesn't want to be bothered, but I know she wants someone to pay attention to her every once in a while. My mom is unavailable from eight to six the next morning and even then she comes home and sleeps into the afternoon. I usually took care of Alicia during that time, but if I go to Bates, she'll have to take care of herself."

"It must be rough having so much responsibility while also handling school and preparing for college."

"Yeah. I had to grow up fast to become the man of the house," he said, a touch of something somber laced in his tone.

Riley's brows furrowed in concern. "What happened for you to have to assume so much responsibility so fast? If you don't mind me asking."

"I don't. But it's kind of a long story."

"We've got time. And I don't mind listening if you want someone to listen," she reassured him.

"Okay. Well, my parents were never married to begin with and my biological father died when I was seven. Cancer. This was about a year after Mom had Alicia, so she never knew our father."

Apparently, Ruth had remarried a few years later. But they had divorced really quickly shortly after when she found out he'd cheated on her. He moved away, and Ruth couldn't get into contact with him when she found out she was pregnant with the twins. They hadn't been in contact with him ever again so the twins didn't know their father either. His mother had just started her new job at the hospital which kept her extremely busy so his life had changed drastically after that since he was basically taking care of his younger siblings in his mom's absence.

"None of us kids really look alike because Vicky and Nicky take after their dad. Alicia and I don't even look alike, but that's because while she takes after my mom, I think I look more like my dad."

"You do resemble your mom quite a bit though. You have the same eyes and warmth in your eyes too."

"You think so?"

"Oh definitely."

They fell a bit quiet for the ride, Charlie focused on navigating the freeway and lessening how late they were while Riley watched the scenery pass. It wasn't much but skyscrapers and apartment complexes in the distance, but she still did like looking at the New York horizon.

"Thanks for listening to me talk about my life," he said quietly a handful of minutes later. "I haven't really told that many people this before."

She squeezed his shoulder gently. "I'll always be here for you, Charlie."

Charlie gave her a soft, grateful smile. "I appreciate it."


	21. Chapter 20

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

They were definitely late getting to the art centre, and Maya's nerves were a complete wreck by the time they finally arrived. Charlie went off to go find Zay who was holding their seats so she could focus on consoling Maya. But even with Riley's comforting words, Maya was super nervous and shift eyed and just overall not acting like herself. She was out of it and barely paying attention to anything Riley said and above that, her eyes kept straying back to Lucas. But when he turned to glance at her, Maya would turn around. There was definitely something happening there that was ruining Maya's concentration.

"I'm gonna go outside and get a bit of air, Riley," she declared after this had happened for the umpteenth time and Riley started to get annoyed. Maya took off before Riley could get in a comment.

Shaking her head, she headed straight to Lucas where he was getting punch from the refreshments table.

"What are you doing?"

He almost spilled his drink in surprise from her sudden appearance. "I was just getting some punch…?"

"No! Wrong!" Riley poked him sharply and he winced when her nail dug into his arm. "You shouldn't be getting punch like some idiot."

Lucas looked at her like she'd lost her mind. "Hey now. What did I do to deserve _this_?"

"Maya is freaking out in the hallway and the competition is about to start in like five minutes. She's super worried about something and I don't know why and whatever it is I'm not able to help her so go reassure her."

He looked hesitant. "…Okay."

Feeling proud of her work, Riley traipsed over to where Charlie was looking at a painting on his way to the seating area.

"Whatcha looking at?" she asked.

"This is Maya's painting?"

"Yupp." It was a painting of a figure who fully resembled Riley, walking into a lake, her gaze up at the stars and fireflies dancing above her head. "She's amazing, right?"

"It looks like a photograph. It's beautiful."

"Hmm… The painting or me?" Riley said playfully, nudging him with her elbow.

"Ah. Trick question." He replied in the same tone. "The correct answer is both."

She knew he was just messing around, but it couldn't stop her from smiling goofily, feeling extremely giddy with his response. Technically, he'd called her beautiful and she was _living_.

"Shows probably going to start soon." Charlie said, jerking his head in the direction of Farkle and Zay where the chairs had been set up to watch the competition. "It's time for us to get our seats."

For the next three minutes, Riley kept checking her watch. She was really concerned that Maya still hadn't returned yet. A no show artist was an automatic disqualification and by this point, all the artists were already standing by their work in preparation for the judging. Even the judges and the announcer looked like they were gearing up to begin.

About a minute later and right on time, Lucas and Maya came back. She looked decidedly more energetic and less distracted and ran to her spot just as the announcer finally called to attention the beginning of the programme. Lucas trudged through the crowd to go to his seat between Riley and Zay.

"So is everything figured out?" Riley questioned once he had settled in his spot.

"Yeah, she's fine," Lucas responded as Maya waved at them from the floor, and they all returned the wave.

Riley rose a brow, lowering her voice as the announcer began to list names and names of paintings for the competition to induce appropriate applause from the crowd. "I'm asking about you two. I know you guys had some intense conversation about feelings on Friday night. She was fine today at school so what happened between then and now for her to get like that? You drove her here. What did you do?"

She had just been accusing him blindly, but when she saw the guilty look on his face, she was convinced she'd gotten it right.

"Oh spill it mister. What did you do to Maya?"

"It's not what you're probably thinking. Yes, we had an… interesting conversation about our relationship—"

"So are you guys going to date or what?"

He sighed. "Riley, Maya isn't interested in me anymore."

"Yes she is."

He shook his head. "Do you know why Maya was freaking out earlier? I told her I liked her on the way here."

"You confessed!" Riley said excitedly.

Lucas looked displeased though and he frowned. "Yeah, and it didn't go well. She got mad at me and said she's not going to fall for cheap tricks to get her in bed. I know she was talking out of her ass, but still, quite frankly, it was offensive that she thinks I would even try to do something like that. And when I tried to tell her me liking her was sincere, she got even more mad and said she's not going to sit around and get her heart broken by me again."

With each word he spoke, Riley's smile slipped, and she grew increasingly more dejected. "Wait. So what did you say to make her stop freaking out?"

"I told her that I know she doesn't have feelings for me and that even though I like her, I'm not going to try to pursue a relationship with her because I know she doesn't want that with me. I told her I just wanted her to know that I have feelings for her and that's enough for me. And then she told me that she wanted to be _just_ friends. No more make outs. She wants this weird game we've been playing for years to stop."

Riley winced. "Lucas…"

"Honestly, it's okay. Riley." He smiled a bit wistfully, turning his attention back to the art show where the judges had begun to head to the paintings to critique. "I gave up a chance years ago and she closed that door, so that's the end of that. I'd rather be friends with her than not friends at all. So I'm giving up for now. Maybe one day she'll want to pursue something."

It broke Riley's heart to hear that and her face fell, disappointed that the very opposite of what she'd been hoping would happen had happened. Maya had already told Riley to drop it. And now it seemed like Lucas was saying the same thing.

Noticing her sour expression, Charlie took her hand and gave her a gentle squeeze. "You okay?"

She nodded slowly, staring at him wide eyed as her pulse quickened immeasurably. Goosebumps rose up on her arm. "Uh, I am now…"

It was a lie; she wasn't okay.

But now for an entirely other reason altogether.


	22. Chapter 21

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"Congratulations to Maya Hart for winning third place!" Johnny announced. "As promised, if she placed, her celebrating party gets free pizza all night!"

He set the pie on the table and they all cheered while Maya took fake bows on top of the little stage at the front of the room. Katy was gushing about Maya's medal to other patrons, acting like the embarrassing, proud mama she was. It was a really impressive accomplishment considering how many people had entered the competition though. And what made the night even better was the free pizza and hanging out with friends and family at Johnny's, their favourite pizza place.

Johnny had finally put to use that old jukebox rusting away in the corner and starting playing a bunch of oldies, but goodies. Zay and Maya had gotten up bouncing around and laughing as they tried to do the twist and mashed potato and other styles of dance. The rest of their crew were all chatting at the table, sharing stories and laughing and just having a great time. It was a really fun celebration.

At some point, the fast songs wound down into a slow one and some of the adult couples stood up to dance with each other on the floor.

Feeling emboldened, Riley leaned over to Charlie. "Do you feel like dancing? I sure do."

He stood up and held out a hand. "Sure, why not."

They assumed a spot on the main floor near other couples, swaying gently to the soft music. They weren't altogether cuddled together or that close, but his hands on her waist were making goosebumps rise on the back of her neck. Under the lighting of Johnny's, his eyes looked like they were dancing and Riley realised she really liked looking in his eyes. She couldn't tear her gaze away from him. It was really strange. She already knew Charlie was attractive, but she hadn't realised that he was really, really cute.

Out of her periphery, Riley saw Maya drag a reluctant Lucas (who had actually been sulking since the start of the show) to his feet to slow dance with her too. Maya was beaming, and even though he had a resigned smile on his face, Riley could still see the affectionate way he gazed at Maya. She felt kind of bad for him. He liked Maya a lot, but there was no way that was going to go anywhere since Maya had decided she was over it.

"You're really invested in their relationship," Charlie commented and Riley realised she was staring at them.

"They're both being stubborn for no reason."

"Zay told me about how bad the triangle got. I mean, I know how bad it was for _me_ when I was kind of a part of it, and it wasn't altogether that horrible. But I can't imagine how bad it was for Maya."

Riley's brows furrowed. "Yeah… I think Maya's still stuck on it."

"Do you think maybe you feel guilty for some reason, and that's why you're taking those measures?"

"Maybe part of me does feel that way… But I do want them to be happy." Riley sighed in defeat and closed her eyes. She leaned her head forward and rested her forehead on Charlie's comfortable shoulder.

Charlie laughed. "Riley, are you falling asleep on me?"

"No… Yes… Maybe… It's not funny."

But she kind of was being lulled to sleep. Not full sleep, but a kind of haze where she felt like she was drifting on clouds. It didn't help that Charlie smelled really good, and he looked really handsome that night. She could really dance with him all night.

His shoulders were still shaking a bit and she knew he was still laughing. "Maybe we should stop before you start to drool. This is the only suit I own, you know?"

"Sorry. You're just really comfortable."

She felt really comfortable around Charlie. Like she could spend time with him forever, and she'd always be this happy.


	23. Chapter 22

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

"I'm glad we got all the powerpoint and essay stuff done. Tomorrow is the last day. So let's finish the poster board and do a couple run throughs on Thursday?"

"Definitely."

He waved. "Night Riley."

"Drive home safe, Charlie." She once again waited until he'd gone around the corner of her floor's hallway before she entered her home. She really appreciated the fact that he walked her to her door whenever he dropped her off. He was the perfect gentleman and it was utterly charming.

Riley mused when it'd gotten to the point that she was so disappointed that she couldn't spend more time with Charlie. They'd spent all afternoon together working on this project and yet, she was already missing his presence. She always looked forward to seeing him, and she would always catch her eyes wandering around the hall between classes to catch a glimpse of him. And when she caught sight of him in the hallways, she always got kind of excited. Her reactions to him were reminding her of when she was lovesick.

Which was weird.

Was she?

She entered her room, and unsurprisingly, Maya was lounging around on her bed, reading a magazine and munching on some chips.

"How was your date with Cheese Soufflé?"

"It wasn't a date, Maya," Riley said as she took off her winter wear. Although if she was honest, her mind had started considering the time she spent with Charlie as dates.

"Well it was definitely something." Maya pointed out, watching her upside down, her hair trailing off the side and brushing the rug. "I saw how cozy you and Charlie were on that dance floor yesterday night. Admit it. You like him."

"I don't…"

But didn't she? The constant heart racing. The nervousness when she stared into his eyes. The butterflies she felt whenever he smiled. How she couldn't stop staring at him. How she wanted to run her fingers through his long hair. How she couldn't stop thinking about him: his laugh, his voice, the way he said her name. The goosebumps, sweaty palms. These were things she'd definitely experienced before and she knew what the signs all pointed to. She'd been there before.

"…Oh my gosh." Riley landed heavily on her bed, nearly bouncing Maya off, who flailed and tried to catch her balance. "Maya, I have a crush on Charlie. I _like_ Charlie."

The revelation wasn't as shocking as she thought it would be, and she wondered if her body had already known before her mind caught up.

"Well congratulations…" she said, giving her a dry look. "I kind of already knew that. So what are you going to do about it?"

"That's just it. _Nothing_. Don't you get it? I can't have a crush on Charlie. I just can't."

She rose a brow at Riley in confusion. "Why not?"

"B-Because… Well because I'm the one who shut down his crush! It would make me a hypocrite to like him back now."

"What? I mean, yeah I get what you kind of mean, but that was years ago. I'm sure he doesn't care about that anymore. Does he like you?"

"I don't know. Probably not…"

"Aww, Honey. How could he not? Everyone likes you." Maya leaned up and ruffled her hair playfully. "You're a bright eyed doofus with a great big heart."

And Riley froze.

She turned slowly to Maya who suddenly looked alarmed from the expression on her face. "Wait, what did you just call me?"

"Doofus?"

"The whole thing."

"Bright eyed doofus with the great big heart…? You okay, Riles?" Maya asked slowly, waving a hand in front of her eyes.

"Oh my God…" Riley's eyes widened and her heart started _flipping_ in her chest.

Charlie's song had been about a girl with bright eyes and a big heart. He wrote it about someone he knew. And the girl in the song was someone who Charlie obviously really liked since he wrote it about her in the first place. There was no way it was a coincidence. Charlie had written the song about _her_.

"Riley? What's up with you? You're doing that weird epiphany face where you stare into the distance all dazed."

"…Maya. Charlie wrote a song about me. He wrote a love song about me!" Riley squealed, shaking Maya's shoulders, her mind in a complete frenzy. "I'm the girl in his song!"

Maya grinned. "So isn't that your answer that he likes you too, then?"

"I-I mean, I still don't know. He hasn't given me any clear signs that he likes me."

Except that thinking back on that conversation they'd had in the library, he never said he _didn't_ like her like that anymore. Did that mean he still liked her? Not to mention the song. Plus he'd called her beautiful and he was always complimenting her. Those were clear signs of his interest, right?

"Maya, what do I do?!"

Now that she knew that Charlie liked her, she really didn't know what steps to take next. Were they going to date for real?

Maya shrugged, turning back to the magazine. "You take the bull by its horns and ask him out. Sometimes if you want a big payoff, you have to take risks. If you are certain he likes you, tell him how you feel about him too."

Telling Charlie that she liked him would definitely take a lot of courage. Especially since she was the one who had turned him down years ago. But at least he wasn't vindictive.

"Okay. I'll confess to Charlie."


	24. Chapter 23

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

Riley was jumpy all day and could barely act like herself around him. Whenever he looked at her, she felt herself blushing. She couldn't figure out when to bring up their mutual interest in each other. Tonight was their last night working on the project and the closer they got to completing it, the more jittery she got. She'd built up her courage all afternoon to do this, but she had no idea how to approach it.

"Okay, that's the end of the project…" Charlie said, stretching his arms with a satisfied sigh and leaning back against her bed. "That took longer than I thought."

"I guess so." Riley said, chuckling nervously as she tucked a strand of her long hair behind her ear. Her window was rapidly closing. The poster board was finished, they had gone through the presentation twice, and once they cleaned up the room and the extra supplies, he'd be on his way, and Riley was sure she'd lose her nerve. "I had a lot of fun working with you, Charlie."

He smiled, still relaxed and not looking like he was in any rush to clean anytime soon. "Yeah, you too. We make a great team."

And all of a sudden, she got a small burst of confidence to confess. The fact that he was still lounging around meant he still wanted to hang out with her, right? And was there a hidden statement in his words?

"I agree. You know, Charlie, I… enjoyed our time together too. I don't want it to end yet."

"We don't have to stop hanging out just because the project is over. We're still on for that jazz night, right?"

"Right, but I was wondering if you wanted to… go out? To a movie? And get dinner?" She twiddled her thumbs, staring at the carpet in trepidation. "Or… you know, get to know each other a bit better…? More often? Like relationship often…?"

There was silence in the room. Too much silence. Uncomfortable silence, and all of a sudden, Riley grew anxious. When she glanced up, Charlie's brows were furrowed. And she instantly knew she'd made a mistake. Her stomach coiled in unease.

"Wait, are you asking me out on a date?"

"Movie date," she responded quietly. "I thought it might be fun since… I like you, Charlie."

" _Oh_." Charlie's expression briefly twisted into something kind of awkward and then turned apologetic. Riley instantly wanted to evaporate or hide under her covers. "…Riley, I have someone I'm kind of with right now."

The news was a direct blow to her, and she blinked at him stupidly for a few seconds.

"You h-have a girlfriend?"

"I wouldn't say girlfriend…? We're on a slight break because of the whole long distance thing, but we've been seeing each other for about two years now. We're planning to go to Bates together."

"How come you haven't mentioned her?" Riley questioned, a little indignant because if he had just said something earlier, she would never have gotten this false notion in her head that he could like her.

"Well, like I said we're on break." Charlie picked at a string on his frayed sweatshirt. "It's not something that pops up in conversation, plus you never asked."

It was true that they had largely stayed away from any conversations involving any romantic entanglements, but it still hurt Riley that he hadn't said anything. A voice in the back of her mind was telling her she'd said nothing to Charlie about the Lucas thing either until Charlie had confessed and she'd hurt him too. But she shoved the thought away, feeling her throat tightening up.

"But you complimented me and said I was talented!"

Charlie gave her an apologetic look. "You are. You're very sweet and talented, but those are just facts."

"You've told me I was beautiful and that I deserved everything I wanted!"

"I mean, you are and you do. My opinion isn't going to change just because I'm seeing someone."

"Your song! Bright eyed, big hearted girl!" She gesticulated wildly, trying to find _some_ reason that didn't make her crazy that she'd found his actions misleading. "Who else are you talking about? The lyrics describe a doe eyed girl who helps everyone she cares about. I'm doe eyed, and you said I had a big heart. It's about me, isn't it?"

"You do have a big heart too…" Charlie grimaced this time and her heart broke just a little bit more. "But Riley… I wrote that song for Juana, about her. When I met her, she teamed up with people and started up an organisation at my old school to crochet blankets for the homeless in the winter. She volunteers all the time and wants to work non-profit to help those less fortunate. I wrote it because I didn't know how to tell her how I felt. But I found out that she was interested in me too, and so I never finished the song before. Until recently."

Riley didn't even know what to say. Everything she'd been so sure about had been ripped apart mercilessly, and she was left feeling scorned and damaged.

"I'm sincerely sorry if I ever did anything to give you the wrong impression, but I thought you've always just wanted to be good friends." He frowned, shrugging a bit. "I mean, you were never interested in me. It never even crossed my mind that I could be an option for you…"

"People's feelings can change," Riley muttered, the back of her eyes stinging with tears.

"Well yeah." Charlie scratched the back of his head. "Mine did too. I moved on, Riley."

There was an extended uncomfortable silence with those words. Riley did everything in her power not to start crying in front of him or sniffling, but she could feel her nose running and she knew her eyes were red from how itchy they were.

"I think I'm just…" Charlie sighed as he gathered his bags to leave. "You probably want me to go now. Goodnight, Riley…"

Riley sat still in the same position in her room long after he'd left, looking out the window and retracing her steps to figure out how she'd gotten things so twisted up in her mind. She knew there were tears trickling down her face and she thought it was so stupid to cry, but she couldn't help it. She felt so, so dumb. And so utterly humiliated.

Picking up her phone with a shaky hand, she dialled Maya's number, trying to contain her sniffles.

 _"_ _How goes it, Riley?"_

And then she broke down sobbing. "I was so wrong, Maya. He has a girlfriend! He's not interested in me at all."

 _"…_ _I'm on my way."_


	25. Chapter 24

**Thank you for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

Thanks to Maya's consolation all night, Riley was able to get through the presentation with Charlie alright, but she kept her gaze decidedly away from him. And they didn't interact during class at all. It wasn't that she was angry at him. She just felt so awkward around him and talking to him. Riley was fully prepared to ignore him for the rest of school year too, but as the bell rang and they got up to leave class, Charlie stopped her out in the hallway.

"Riley, can we talk? I feel like we left yesterday on a seriously bad note."

"What's there to talk about? I like you and I confessed and got rejected." She couldn't look him in the eye. "The irony is that when you wanted to be with me, I turned you down. It's my just desserts, isn't it?"

He frowned, displeased. "Hey, that's not cool. No one deserves heartbreak just because they turned someone down years ago."

Riley wanted to be mad at Charlie about _anything_ , but he was so dang nice. Even now, although she'd made things awkward, he was still friendly and going out of his way to make sure she was okay.

"I didn't realise you thought that something between us was happening, and I'm sorry. You're a great friend. And I believe in you. And I'll always think you deserve the best, Riley. But I didn't mean with me," Charlie said genuinely. "I just wanted to clear everything up since you looked pretty hurt yesterday."

Riley nodded, though she was feeling the urge to cry again. "Can we… Can we at least stay friends then? Even though I made things awkward?"

Charlie chuckled. "Yeah. Who else will listen to my terrible guitar playing? Plus Alicia really wants to discuss books with you."

"Okay." Riley smiled an itty bitty one. "Plus we were supposed to go to jazz night tomorrow."

"Exactly. So friends?" he asked hopefully, holding a hand out.

"Yeah." She grasped his hand and shook it. She hated the fact that she still felt the electricity run up her arm when their skin touched. "We're friends."

"Alright. See you around, Riley."

Charlie left the area, going towards his locker to head home for the day. Once she was sure he couldn't see her anymore, she let the smile slip off her face.

The tables had turned. Now she was reduced to pining after him and backing off even though she had feelings for him. She was the one with the unrequited feelings for someone who had feelings for another person. It was such a crappy feeling. The worst part was that she kept wondering what would have happened if she had given Charlie a chance way back when.

She trudged her way to her locker, her heart feeling tight in her chest once again. Lucas was over there getting some stuff out for the weekend. When she stopped by, he gave her an apologetic smile.

"You okay? Maya told me what happened with Charlie."

"I don't want to think about it. Anyway, I'm spending the weekend with Maya otherwise I'll be an emotional wreck." Riley sighed, leaning her back against the lockers. "Who knew that one decision we made could wreck so many chances… We're a couple of idiots, huh?"

"We're not idiots for the choices we made when we were younger. There was no way we could have known what was going to happen. And if anything, we had to make those choices to figure out what we actually wanted, right?" Lucas said gently. "Things happen. Don't beat yourself up about it."

"It just sucks that now we can't have who we really want. It hurts bad to be rejected, Lucas."

"I know…" he said, patting her shoulder consolingly. "But it's not the end of the world. I'm biding my time with Maya. I feel hopeful that she'll come around one day. And you're a nice person, Riley. There are other fish in the sea. Maybe ones you overlooked, you know? You just have to go fishing. You'll be alright."

"Thanks. You know where Farkle is? I don't want to be by myself while Maya has practice."

"He's at the library. I'll see you later."

He shut his locker, going off to his practice while Riley stood there, kind of wishing she could go back in time. But that would never happen and there was nothing she could do.

Talk about a missed opportunity.


	26. Epilogue

**This took a bit longer to complete, and I'm sorry for that, but I finally finished it! Thank you for all the reviews, faves and follows! It means a lot that you guys took a chance on this story to read it! I hope you enjoyed my speculation on a potential random scenario for the future! :)  
**

 **Au revoir, loves!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own GMW but I do love me some good old angst.**

* * *

The irony of it all is what bugs her the most.

If she had gotten to know Charlie back when he liked her, she would have learned what a great guy he was and she might have fallen for him. But she fell for him well after he had moved on. All because she had been way too caught up on her first crush. Because she had been viewing her life in a lens and could only see one thing when there was so much more out there. Attentive guys like Charlie are a dime a dozen. And she had lost a chance with a guy who honestly could have given her the Princess treatment she'd daydreamed of having from her boyfriend.

The more she thinks about it, the more Riley can't help but sigh and stare at the ceiling absentmindedly.

Charlie Gardner is yet another kite in her life that had flown away because she hadn't paid attention. And like all kites before, she wishes she could turn back the clock, but this one hurts the most. This one hits hard because she has feelings for Charlie that aren't going away anytime soon.

And with a sigh, Riley continues her schoolwork, lamenting yet another missed opportunity.


End file.
